First place finishes by the sprint medley, high jump, and shot put relay teams got the 2006 outdoor track and field season off to a good start for the Little Giants at the annual Wabash Relays. The events were held Saturday afternoon at Huntsman Track.
The quartet of Richard Roomes, Charles Jackson, Tim Rickard, and Nathan Bates won the sprint medley with a time of 3:37.94, edging second place Taylor University by 1/10th of a second. Roomes joined teammates Bart Banach, Ja'Michael Hill, and Mike Russell later in the meet to take second in the 4 X 200-meter with a time of 1:29.94. Rickard, Russell, Hill, and Bates finished third in the 4 X 400-meter relay (3:27.81).
The field events are run normally at the Relays, but the top two results for each team are combined for the final relay results. Wabash recorded the top result in the shot put relay with a combined result of 26.02 meters. Ben Tritle had the top throw in the event (13.24 meters). He joined Pat Long, who was third with a result of 12.78 meters, to take first place overall. Long and John Tsintis were second overall in the discus throw with a combined score of 75.21 meters. Long was third overall (38 meters), while Tsintis finished 32.92 meters. Tritle and Lincoln Smith were third. Tritle was sixth with throw of 33.36, with Smith finishing seventh (32,92) for a total of 66.28 meters. Pete Wagner (ninth, 32.08 meters) and Jon Reidy (10th, 30.96 meters) finished fourth as a team (63.04 meters).
Russell and freshman Andrew Rode joined their results in the high jump to win the relay portion fo the event with a height of 12-02. Rode tied for first in the individual results, clearing 6-2, while Russell tied for third (6-0). The pair were second overall in the long jump relay (12.89). Russell had the top leap with a distance of 6.83 meters. Rode was fifth at 6.06 meters.
Reidy and Tritle took second place in the hammer throw. Reidy was second overall with a throw of 39.84 meters. Tritle was fifth (31.39) for a combined throw of 71.23 meters.
In the individual events, Sam Compton-Craig won the 3000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:18.94. Ethan Paul was second overall (10:33.45). Wade Heiny took second in the 110-meter hurdles (15.96). Rickard was second in the 400-meter hurdles (58.89), with Arthur Banks taking fourth (1:02.12), while Nelson Barre was fifth (1:02.38). Dustin Beck added a third place finish in the 5000 meters (16:01.16). Barre was also third in the pole vault (12-06).
Photos - (top left) Tim Rickard clears the hurdle on the way to a second place finish in the 400-meter race.
(bottom right) Richard Roomes and Nathan Bates catch their breath after winning the sprint medley relay race.