The final awards for the 2005-06 sports season have been announced. Junior track star Nathan Bates has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Track and Field/Cross Country Second Team.
Bates, a psychology major with a cumulative GPA of 3.91, is the first three-time North Coast Athletic Conference champion in the outdoor 400-meter dash. He recently won his third outdoor title with a time of 49.32 at the NCAC Championship meet at Ohio Wesleyan. He also earned All-NCAC honors as a member of the winning 4 X 100- and 4 X 400-meter relay teams.
Bates and the rest of the 4 X 400 participants went on to break the 20-year old Wabash record in that event in the final regular season meet of the season with a time of 3:15.70, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championship meet. The time was just short of making the championship meet. He holds the Wabash indoor 400-meter record with a time of 50.00, and is the 2005 NCAC Indoor 400-meter titleholder.
Bates, a graduate of Norwell High School, is a member of the Phi Beta Lambda business society and the Alpha Phi Omega community service society. He is also the track and field representative to the Wabash Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He joins fellow Wabash student Jared Bogan on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American team. Bogan was a First Team Baseball selection earlier this spring.
Academic All-America teams are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. A student must maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.2 as a starter or key reserve and have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing to be eligible for nomination for the All-District team. First Team All-District selections from the eight CoSIDA regions are placed on the national ballot and are voted on by the CoSIDA Academic All-America Committee.