Oberlin College Athletics

Ben Wach is in his seventh season with the Oberlin track and field program, officially taking over as head coach in July of 2024.

In 2024, Oberlin’s sprinters overhauled the Yeowomen’s and Yeomen’s leaderboards. Hayden Hill highlighted things for the women’s team, bringing home six All-Conference awards including the NCAC title in the indoor pentathlon and All-Region honors in the pentathlon and heptathlon. She graduates with the second-best marks in school history in the pentathlon, heptathlon, and outdoor high jump, plus another top-five mark in the 4x200m relay that she teamed up with Ryley Steggall, Anna Fritz, and Clara Smith to complete. The men’s team broke every school relay record, indoors and out, with Armand Andry, Oliver Briger, Sam Fechner, Cole Fuller, Reese Hyatt, and Kambi Obioha teaming up in the sprint relays along with Liam Newman and Walter Moak bringing home the distance medley. Each relay finished with an All-Conference award, with Obioha bringing home NCAC Indoor Sprinter of the Year honors and leaving Oberlin with six school records.

The 22-23 season saw Chilly Wallace earn All-NCAC honors in both the hurdles and the triple jump, earning All-Region honors in both events. Hill earned her first conference title in the heptathlon (where she was also an All-Region honoree), and added an All-NCAC award in the 400m hurdles on top of it. The Yeomen sprinters had a historic season, setting new school records in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays, with the 4x400m ending the year 22nd in NCAA DIII. The team of Obioha, Fuller, Fechner, and Simon Lowe earned all-conference honors, with Obioha also running a school record in the indoor 400m and Fuller taking home the conference title in the 400m hurdles.

In 2022, Wach guided Clare Tiedemann to a remarkable season, breaking school records in the 55m hurdles, 60m hurdles, pentathlon, heptathlon, and outdoor long jump. Tiedemann earned 9 All-NCAC honors on the year, including 1 conference title in the 100m hurdles, and qualified for the NCAA championships in the pentathlon and heptathlon, where she finished 13th and 14th, respectively. The 21-22 season was highlighted for the Yeomen by Cole Fuller achieving All-NCAC honors in the indoor 400m and the 400m Hurdles, along with running the second leg on the school record-breaking 4x200m relay of Kofi Asare, Fuller, Reese Hyatt, and Sam Fechner. 

Despite limited competition in 2021, Adriano Atallah broke the 100m and 200m school records that had stood for over 30 years.

The 2019-20 season saw Wach mentor first-year Chilly Wallace to NCAC Indoor Track Newcomer of the Year honors while helping to guide Atallah to the NCAC Heptathlon win at the NCAC Indoor Combined Events with a school record 4,475 points.

In his first season, six school records were broken by student-athletes who worked with Coach Wach including the men's and women's 60-meter hurdles, men's 60-meter dash, men's 4x200 relay as well as the men's heptathlon and decathlon. 

Wach came to Oberlin after a successful two-year stint at SUNY-Geneseo.

During his tenure with the Knights, the student-athletes Wach instructed broke school records 29 times, won 28 All-SUNYAC honors and 19 conference titles. Nationally, he was instrumental in seeing 16 individuals and five relays qualify for the NCAA meet with 12 All-American awards being bestowed upon Knight runners.
 
Wach graduated from Geneseo in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in English literature and holds his CSCS, USTFCCCA Level I certification, and has participated in the ALTIS mentorship program studying under Dan Pfaff.