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

Apr. 3, 2010-- Winning seven events and claiming five national qualifiers the North Central College men's track and field squad opened up its outdoor season over the weekend, winning the First Chance Invitational inside Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

North Central amassed 284 points in the team tally, more than doubling runner-up Carthage College's 130.5 points. Wheaton College finished third (87.75) with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point finishing fourth at the nine-team invitational with 81 points.

The Cardinals kicked off the meet on Friday night with a pair of automatic qualifiers as Kyle Brady and Michael Spain finishing 1-2 in the 10,000-meters. Brady won the event, clocking a 30:06.13 with Spain finishing close behind in 30:09.52.

In the 4x100-meter relay, a squad of Donald Smith, Jon Caron, Dayton Henriksen and Dan Benton raced to the victory, crossing the finish line in 42.74 to open up competition on Saturday.

Jacob Austin raced to the victory in the 1,500-meters, crossing the finish in 3:59.49 with teammate Alex Knobloch placing third in 4:00.57. Austin would go on to finish third in the 800-meters, clocking a 1:56.56 for the two-lap race.

In the 5,000-meters, North Central tallied the top four finishers as Ryan Carrigan won the event in 15:17.63. Neal Klein finished runner-up in 15:36.39 with Cody McCullough finishing a step behind in third (15:36.54) while Joshua Uvodich placed fourth (15:37.18).

Caron would tally his second event win of the day in the 400-meter dash, sprinting to the victory in 49.35 while also placing fifth in the 200-meter dash (22.78).

Robert Kapustka claimed the shot put with a throw of 48' 0" while in the discus, Richard Kingery placed third with a throw of 121' 1".

North Central swept the top four spots in the pole vault with three hitting NCAA qualifying marks. Jake Winder won the event, clearing an automatic qualifying height of 17' 1" while John Wood and Steven Stack each hit provisional qualifying marks, placing second (15' 11 3/4") and third (15'6 1/2"), respectively. Frank Wleklinski rounded out the top four, clearing 13'3 1/2".

Matt Borchardt claimed the Cardinals' third victory in the field events, winning the high jump after cleared 6' 4 3/4" while in the long jump, Kyle Haste finished third with a leap of 21' 1/2".

Randal Ellison sprinted to a runner-up finish in the 100-meter dash, clocking an 11.41 with Smith finishing two-hundredths of a second back, good for third place.

In the 400-meter hurdles the Cardinals finished 2-3-4 with Joseph Michals leading the way with the runner-up finish in 56.58. James Hoffman was third (56.92) with Jon Howard finishing fourth (57.76).

Placing third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase was Sean Carlson, finishing in 9:38.33 while the Cardinals' 4x400-meter relay squad closed out the meet with a third place effort (3:27.79).

The Cardinals return to action on Friday, traveling into the city for the Chicagoland Championships.