The Wabash College cross country team rose to the occasion at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday, hosted by Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.
 
Picked to finish sixth in the pre-championship coaches poll, the Little Giants exceeded expectations with a strong fourth-place finish out of nine teams, totaling 122 points. Wabash placed ahead of rival DePauw (127) and Denison (140). John Carroll captured the team title with 24 points in its debut NCAC season, while Kenyon (62) and Oberlin (73) rounded out the top three.
 
Six of the Little Giants' top seven runners set new collegiate personal bests in one of the team's most complete performances of the season. Senior Haiden Diemer-McKinney led the way with a sixth-place finish in 25:45.4, earning First Team All-NCAC honors, the third all-conference cross country award of his career.

Sophomore Johnathan Loney followed in 23rd (26:25.0), just two spots away from all-conference contention. Freshmen Samuel Carpenter (31st, 26:42.4), Jack Loftus (36th, 26:47.9), and Tyler Kerzee (43rd, 27:14.3) rounded out the top-five scoring effort, while senior Thomas Price (50th, 27:41.2) and junior Angel Perez (56th, 27:48.9) followed closely behind, both clocking career-best times.
 
Wabash returns to action on Saturday, November 15 at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, hosted at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky.