As North Central College's sixth individual national champion in men's track and field, Shawn Welti '91 not only achieved the pinnacle of individual success on his own, but proved to be instrumental in establishing the team as a perennial contender on the national scene as well.
Welti first earned NCAA Division III All-America honors at the 1988 indoor national championships, placing fifth in the long jump. At that year's outdoor championships, Welti emerged as the Division III national champion in the event, jumping 24 feet, 2 ½ inches at Carleton College in Northfield, MN, to prevail by 1 ½ inches over his nearest competitor. He was North Central's second individual national champion in a field event, a group that now numbers 15.
“I'm sure that was a big surprise to a lot of people,” Welti said. “For me, though, I always felt I could do something like that. I was jumping well that spring, and I kind of felt that it was just a matter of time for something like that to happen.”
Welti's victory at the 1988 outdoor championships led the Cardinals to what had been their best showing at a national meet, as North Central placed third overall with 46 points. He helped the Cardinals scale the few remaining steps on the podium the following year, as North Central swept the 1989 indoor and outdoor national titles to win each meet for the first time.
“Winning the long jump the year before was a great feeling, but winning the team championship was so much better,” Welti pointed out. “We knew our program was good, but at that point we felt like we had made it on a national level. I also felt good for our coaches that we had made it after all the work they had done behind the scenes.”
Welti placed second at the indoor championships in the long jump, finishing as the runner-up to teammate Jan Cado '93 (also a member of North Central's Athletic Hall of Fame), as North Central totaled 66 ½ points to top the field by nearly 30 points at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME. The Cardinals hosted the outdoor championships that year, and Welti contributed a fourth-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay and a sixth-place effort in the long jump as North Central outdistanced runner-up Lincoln University (PA), 66-58.
“It takes a lot of people from a lot of different perspectives to put something like that together,” Welti said. “You've got coaches in all the different areas and athletes from different backgrounds. The fact that so many people came in and brought it all together to make it happen is still amazing. A lot of that credit goes to (coaches)
Al Carius and
Frank Gramarosso. They saw the big picture and were able to put the pieces together.”
Welti added sixth-place finishes in both the long jump and 4x100 relay as a senior at the 1990 outdoor championships, also held at North Central, helping the Cardinals place fifth as a team.
A member of four straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) championship teams, Welti won individual CCIW titles in the long jump (1988) and 200-meter dash (1989). He also contributed to first-place finishes in the 4x100 relay in 1988 and 1989.
