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

CCIW Release

Jan. 31, 2012-- North Central College pole vaulter Josh Winder and the 4x400-meter relay squad of Mustapha Olaoye, Dionte Hackler, Dan Benton and Bai Kabba where honored by the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin on Tuesday, earning Athlete of the Week accolades for the men's indoor track & field season.

Winder captures the Field Athlete of the Week honor after winning the pole vault at Saturday's NCC Quadrangular with personal best vault of 17 feet, 4 1/2 inches. The junior's performance currently leads NCAA Division III and along with teammate John Wood (17' 0 3/4") are the only athletes so far to clear 17 feet during the 2012 indoor season.

Olaoye, Hackler, Benton and Kabba claim Track Athlete of the Week accolades after winning the 4x400-meter relay in a facility record time of 3 minutes, 16.62 seconds. The foursome shaved over five seconds off their previous best performance of the season and currently is the fastest time in NCAA Division III by over two seconds.

The top-ranked Cardinals encountered little resistance en route to winning their third meet of the season on Saturday, scoring 243 points to outdistance runner-up and fifth-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater by a 61-point margin.

North Central returns to action on Friday, sending multi-event athletes to Bloomington, Ill. for a meet at Illinois Wesleyan University while the rest of the squad heads to Whitewater, Wis. for the Squig Converse Invitational.