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DES MOINES, Iowa (Apr. 24, 2010) - The 4x400-meter relay squad highlighted the North Central College men's track and field team's efforts on Saturday at the 101st Drake Relays, automatically qualifying for the NCAA Division III National Championships with a fifth place finish.

Three of the Cardinal's four relay squads finished among the top 10  in the final day of competition.

The Cardinals opened up competition on Saturday morning with a seventh place finish in the 4x110-meter hurdle shuttle relay. The squad of Delaney Fluker, Joseph Michals, Matt Borchardt and Nicholas Galanes clocked a 63.86, finishing runner-up in their heat behind Division I University of Northern Iowa. Kansas State University logged the fastest qualifying time of 58.92 as North Central's foursome finished second among Division III squads.

The Distance Medley Relay squad of Alex Knobloch, Scott Foley, Jacob Austin and Ryan Carrigan turned in a sixth place finish among the 24-team field in the college division, clocking a 10:07.36. Augustana College (S.D.) won the event, crossing the tape in 9:54.55.

Donald Smith, Patrick Anderson, Jon Biancardi and Jon Kaufmann collaborated to record a 19th place finish in the Sprint Medley Relay, finishing sixth in their heat in 3:39.32. Oklahoma Baptist University won the College Division race after clocking a 3:21.97.

In the 4x400-meter relay, Jon Caron, Jon Howard, Dayton Henriksen and Dan Benton clocked a 3:12.30, shaving almost three seconds off of Friday's time, placing fifth and 1st among Division III squads. The foursome's time is currently the third fastest effort in school history and automatically qualifies the team for the NCAA Division III National Championships. Oklahoma Baptist won the event, clocking a 3:09.56.

North Central returns to the track on Friday, April 30, traveling to Lisle, Ill. for the Benedictine Invitational.