FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Results

Feb. 25, 2012-- Top-ranked North Central College continued its dominance at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Men's Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday, winning the team title for the 12th consecutive season after claiming 10 of the 17 events contested at the Al B. Carius Track.

The Cardinals ran away with the meet, amassing 261 points to edge runner-up Augustana College by a 91.5-point margin. North Central has now won all 12 Indoor Championship meets contested by the CCIW. Carthage College was third with 105 points followed by Illinois Wesleyan University (48.50 points) and Wheaton College (34 points). Elmhurst College was sixth (20 points) with Millikin University (14 points) and North Park University (11 points) rounding out the standings.

Dan Benton earned CCIW Track Athlete of the Meet honors while head coach Frank Gramarosso and his staff earned CCIW Coaching Staff of the Year accolades. Benton captured the honor after winning the 400-meter dash for the third straight season, stopping the clock in a CCIW record tying time of 48.69 seconds while placing runner-up in the 200-meter dash (22.11). Benton closed out the meet by anchoring the Cardinals' winning 4x400-meter relay team that clocked a CCIW-record time of 3:18.18.

North Central began the meet with a bang on Friday, winning four of the five events contested. Dan Kerley prevailed in the 5,000-meters for the second straight season, completing 25 laps in 14 minutes, 43.52 seconds. Zach Heerspink won his third consecutive high jump title with a clearance of 6 feet, 6 1/4 inches, edging teammate Andrew Carlson on the tiebreaker after having fewer missed attempts.

The Cardinals swept the top three spots in the pole vault with John Wood establishing a new CCIW record after clearing 17' 5". Thomas Stacey was second with a vault of 16' 0 3/4" while Frank Wleklinski was third (15' 7"). North Central has now won 11 straight pole vault titles at the indoor championships.

Friday was concluded with the distance medley relay team taking home the title after crossing the tape in 10:12.07.

Saturday saw Heerspink win his second field event in as many days, leaping 23' 0" to win the long jump with Kalen Petty placing third (22' 5"). Joseph Hletko won the inaugural heptathlon, racking up 4,408 points after winning two of the seven events (60 meter dash and long jump).

On the track, Juliano Lodi emerged with the victory in the 800-meter run, clocking a 1:54.54 in heat two of three. while Tim Hird and Kerley combined for a 1-2 finish in the 3,000-meters. Hird captured top honors, crossing the tape in 8:33.81 while Kerley was close behing in 8:35.21.

North Central received second place finishes from Petty in the 60-meter hurdles (8.38), John Crain in the mile (4:14.17) and Dionte Hackler in the 400-meter dash (49.09) while getting third place efforts from Petty in the triple jump (43' 8 1/2"), Matthew Perez in the 5,000-meters (14:56.53), Nick Galanes in the 60-meter hurdles (8.43) and Hackler in the 200-meter dash (22.19).

The Cardinals close out their four-meet homestand on Thursday and Friday, hosting the NCC Last Chance Qualifier at the Al B. Carius Track.