FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Complete Rankings

Nov. 5, 2009 -- The North Central College women's cross country squad moved up one spot to fifth in the ninth installment of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Midwest Region Rankings, released this week.

The top four in the Midwest Region remained unchanged from a week ago with UW-Eau Claire maintaining the top spot followed by Washington University in Saint Louis and UW-La Crosse. UW-Oshkosh is fourth with North Central rounding out the top five. College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin rival Wheaton College is sixth while Illinois Wesleyan is ninth.

The Cardinals claimed their fifth CCIW Championship in school history on Saturday, edging past Wheaton College by one point. Lauren Hooks led the Cardinal contingent, clocking a time of 24:02.4 for the 6,000 meter course, placing fourth and capturing CCIW Freshman of the Year honors. Amanda Laesch, Alicia Zimmerman and Kate Lueders all finished among the top 15 to earn All-CCIW accolades while head coach Mahesh Narayanan and his staff was honored as the CCIW Coaching Staff of the Year.

North Central takes the weekend off before heading up to Winneconne, Wis. on Saturday, Nov. 14 for the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional hosted by UW-Oshkosh.