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

Apr. 30, 2009-- The NCAA announced its third installment of the Division III Regional Rankings yesterday, with the North Central College softball team falling one spot to sixth in the Great Lakes Region.

UW-Whitewater sits atop the region with a 32-3 record followed by College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin rival Illinois Wesleyan University (28-3). Wisconsin schools UW-La Crosse (26-10) and UW-Eau Claire (27-10) are third and fourth with Aurora University (30-5) rounding out the top five. Filling out the top eight is UW-Oshkosh (17-15) in seventh and UW-River Falls (22-14) in eighth.

The NCAA weekly ranks the top eight teams in each of the eight regions and are the primary criteria used to select the Division III Championship Field. The NCAA Championship field will be announced on Sunday, May 3 with regional assignments released the following day.

The Cardinals (25-10) begin the CCIW Tournament on Friday at noon, facing Augustana College in Bloomington, Ill. The top four regular season teams participate in the two-day double elimination tournament.