FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

Results

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Mar. 1, 2014) - Exhibiting superior depth, particularly in the distance events, the North Central College men's track and field team proved to the class of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) for a 14th consecutive indoor season on Friday and Saturday, as the Cardinals secured yet another CCIW team title at the Shirk Center to remain unbeaten in the conference's championship meet.

The second-ranked Cardinals totaled 208.50 points to finish nearly 50 points clear of 19th-ranked Carthage College, which placed second with 160. Augustana College finished third (135), followed by Illinois Wesleyan University (61.50), Wheaton College (48), Millikin University (25), Elmhurst College (17) and North Park University (8).

More than 30 percent of North Central's points came from two events, as the Cardinals swept the maximum top five spots in both the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs for the first time. Troy Kelleher led the charge at the front of the field in the 5,000 on Friday, claiming the win in 14 minutes, 37.48 seconds. He was followed across the finish line by Luke Nally (14:40.02), Ryan Root (14:40.90), Roger Klein (14:45.16) and Mitch Gilbert (14:57.01). Nally, Root and Klein each turned in personal-best times.

On Saturday, John Crain placed first in the 3,000 (8:20.09), leading teammates Travis Morrison (8:21.89), Ben Dickshinski (8:31.34), Ken Hoffman (8:35.86) and Kevin McMahon (8:36.32) in a second sweep of the five lead positions. Crain also anchored the distance medley relay team to a first-place finish, combining efforts with Juliano Lodi, Derek Nelson and Richard Ruske to finish in 10:11.62, and was voted the CCIW's Co-Track Athlete of the Meet.

North Central also claimed three of the top four spots in the 60-meter hurdles. Adam Lundquist finished in 8.39 seconds to score the win, and teammates Mike Varela and Nick Baumgartner finished third (8.45) and fourth (8.57), respectively. Each of the Cardinals' three hurdlers turned in lifetime bests in the event.

Femi Oyewole cleared six feet, eight 1/4 inches to place second in the high jump, with Kyle Pembrook placing third (6'7"). North Central also got second-place showings from Abraham Oshipitan in the 200-meter dash (22.48) and Matt Muth in the mile run (4:16.13). The 4-by-400-meter relay team of Nelson, Oshipitan, Dionte Hackler and Marlen Hamilton finished third (3:22.52), as did Adam Weidner in the shot put (50'8") and 35-pound weight throw (53'7 3/4") and Nelson in the 400-meter dash (50.28). Pat Foley turned in a third-place finish in the 800-meter run (1:55.11), hitting the line a step ahead of Ryan Bartell in fourth (1:55.22).

The Cardinals claimed at least three of the eight scoring places in nine of the 15 individual events contested in the meet. North Central has now won 49 total CCIW team championships in men's track and field.

The Cardinals will travel to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointer Final Qualifier on Saturday for their last opportunity to improve qualifying marks for the 2014 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships, which will be held Mar. 14-15 in Lincoln, Neb.