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Results

LINCOLN, Neb. (Mar. 14, 2014) - The fireworks began at dusk for the North Central College men's track and field team on Friday at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, as the Cardinals took to the track in the final two events of the day and emerged with a pair of thrilling finishes at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

North Central senior John Crain overwhelmed his opposition over the final mile of the 5,000-meter run to post a convincing win and claim his second individual national championship, and the Cardinals' distance medley relay team came through in a physical race with a furious finish to secure All-America honors with an eighth-place showing.

Crain claimed the 50th individual national title in the history of the Cardinals' program and the 118th individual championship at North Central by breaking the field with a 4:28 final mile and finishing with a personal-record time of 14:06.73.

"It's a little bit of vindication," said Crain, who placed second at last year's indoor championships after leading going into the final lap and finished second in the Division III Cross Country Championships last November. "Finishing second in cross country, I kept that on my mind through to this season, and it's been the driving force behind what I just did, and for our team in getting four other guys into this race."

Following the pace set by his competitors in the early laps, Crain conserved energy before moving to the front just past the two-mile mark and turning the final three laps into a solo run for home.

"The race played out perfectly," said North Central associate head coach Al Carius. "It was lucky that he didn't have to take the lead early. When he made his move, it was dominant. He ran smooth and strong, and his finish was remarkable."

Crain's competitors in Saturday's 3,000-meter run should expect no lingering weariness, as he did not consider the longer race particularly taxing. Crain entered the weekend as the national leader in the 3,000.

"It felt really easy," he said. "I felt extremely comfortable, I was watching the Jumbotron each lap and I saw the other guys falling back, so I knew I was all by myself and no one would catch me. That's probably one of the more comfortable 5K's I've run in my life."

Ryan Root turned in a time of 14:34.76 to place 10th for North Central, followed by Troy Kelleher in 13th (14:45.43), Ben Dickshinski in 14th (14:59.89) and Luke Nally in 15th (15:17.54).

The Cardinals' distance medley relay team of Travis Morrison, Derek Nelson, Richard Ruske and Matt Muth were forced to fight to the finish to claim their awards, as the top five teams dipped under the previous championship-meet record.

Morrison opened with the 1,200-meter leg of the event, and persevered through some contact in a tightly-bunched field, kept his footing despite being tripped up near the inside rail, and handed off in fourth place with a time of 3:05.

"I anticipated getting close to the rail as soon as possible to conserve energy," he said. "I knew I had to keep my own space, so I made myself big, and a guy behind me tripped me but it opened up a little after that and I just went for it."

Nelson took over for the 400-meter leg and handed off in third place in a shade under 50 seconds, and Ruske turned in an 800-meter split of 1:55 and handed off in sixth place as the field began to bunch up once again. Muth, who anchored the Cardinals' All-America DMR last season as well, fell back into 10th place but hung tough before finding an opening in the final lap to surge past competitors from Amherst College (Mass.) and Washington University in St. Louis to claim the final spot on the awards stand. Muth's 4:11 mile split gave North Central a finishing time of 10:00.62.

"That was a tough race," Muth said. "I knew I had that last finish at the end, so I just held on and gave it everything I had."

North Central was represented in the 400-meter dash preliminaries by Mustapha Olaoye, whose time of 49.30 seconds placed him 14th in the field.

With 11 points, the Cardinals currently sit third in the team standings, though the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has a commanding lead with 40.5.

Action continues on Saturday as Crain, Kelleher and Morrison compete in the 3,000-meter run at 4:25 p.m. and the 4-by-400-meter relay runs at 5:00.

Live event-by-event results will be available at the championships website and the North Central Athletics Twitter feed will feature live updates as well.