Senior Geoff Lambert battled tough weather conditions Friday night and a competitive field in Saturday's finals to win the 800-meter run at the 2008 Indiana Intercollegiate Championships. Retiring head coach Rob Johnson was named the Co-Coach of the Year at the meet while his Wabash team finished 10th out 19 teams at the two-day meet with 24 total points.
Strong winds down the backstretch of the track on the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis kept Lambert from trying to outrace the field in Friday's qualifying race. He still managed to post the top heat time with a mark of 1:58.44. Racing against some of the best half-milers in the state in finals, he won the event by a nearly a second with a time of 1:57.58.
Hugh Jackson added a third place finish in the 1500-meter run, crossing the finish line in 4:01.83. Rob Trahin was sixth in the pole vault, clearing 4.10 meters (13 feet, 5-1/4 inches). Senior Keegan McLaughlin was sixth in the javelin throw with a mark of 47.15 meters (154 feet, 6 inches).
Freshman Wes Chamblee scored the final points for the Little Giants with a seventh in the 400-meter hurdles (57.69).
Johnson, who will complete his 37th season at the helm of the Wabash track and field program this season, shared the Coach of the Year Award with Indiana Wesleyan's John Foss. Indiana Wesleyan won the meet with 123 points. Current Thiel College head coach Clyde Morgan will take over the Wabash program next year.