Wabash claimed the 2007 North Coast Athletic Conference Relays title Saturday afternoon, winning the conference season kickoff meet for the second time in four years. The Little Giants took the 2004 title, held in the Knowling Fieldhouse. Wabash took second place in 2005 and 2006.
The 1600-meter relay team of Emmanuel Aouad, Bart Banach, Nathan Bates, and Geoff Lambert was named the NCAC Men's Sprints/Hurdles Team of the Week after winning their event as part of the day's events. The quartet finished the race with a time of 3:28.62. The Little Giants also took first place in the 800-meter relay. Banach, Bobby Kimp, David Parsch, and Aouad nipped Allegheny at the finish line, winning with a time of 1:35.50, 43/100th of a second ahead of the Gators' top team.
Kimp and Parsch joined with Wade Heiny and Tim Rickard to finish second in the 800-meter sprint medley. The quartet crossed the finish line in 3:47.74. Wabash also took second in the distance medley (10:32.27) behind the efforts of Lambert, Heiny, Bates, and Hugh Jackson. The 3200-meter relay team of Jackson, John Henry, Micah Milliman, and Dennis Frazee was third (8:26.59).
Frazee added an individual fourth place finish in the 5000-meter race, finishing with a time of 15:45.13. He and Milliman combined for a fourth place finish as a team in the relay standings. Aouad and Nelson Barre also took fourth in the 55-meter hurdles relay. Aouad won the individual title with a time of 7.88. Aouad and Barre paired once again in the triple jump, finishing fifth with a combined distance of 78-10 3/4.
Aouad also won the long jump with a distance of 21-05, finishing fourth overall along with Chris Schweigel's jump for a combined distance of 38-09 1/4 , Barre joined with Chris Vawter to finish fourth in the pole vault relay. David Haggard and John Tsintis were fifth in the shot put relay, tallying a combined distance of 84-03 1/4.
Wabash scored 78 points in the team competition to take the title. Ohio Wesleyan was second (68.5), followed by Allegheny (60), and Denison (59). The Little Giants travel to Bloomington, Illinois this Saturday to compete in the Titan Open at Illinois Wesleyan University.