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

Results

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Mar. 1, 2014) - For the second straight year and the third time in the past four seasons, the North Central College women's track and field team reigns as the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin's (CCIW) indoor champions after surging away from the rest of the field on Friday and Saturday at the Shirk Center.

The 18th-ranked Cardinals turned in 191 points to win their fifth CCIW indoor title overall. Carthage College placed second with 149.50 points, followed by ninth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University (139), Augustana College (82), Wheaton College (50.50), Elmhurst College (25), North Park University (15) and Millikin University (10).

North Central won three events and crowned a three-time champion in pole vaulter Elizabeth Composto, who cleared 12 feet, 3 1/2 inches in the event to become the 10th athlete in the program's history to win a CCIW individual championship in the same event three straight years. Ebony Stallworth won the shot put (44'2 1/2") and also posted a third-place showing in the 20-pound weight throw (50'7 1/2"). 

The Cardinals got a record-breaking performance in the 60-meter hurdles, as Madison Renfro smashed the North Central and CCIW meet records with a winning time of 8.82 seconds. Jocelyn Redlinski crossed the line second in 8.92 seconds, also dipping under the previous record. Redlinski had set the Cardinals' record of 8.97 less than 24 hours earlier in the pentathlon, in which she placed second and broke her own school record with a total of 3,476 points. 

North Central piled up large point totals in several other events by placing multiple athletes near the front of the field. The Cardinals compiled 23 points in the mile run after Krista Cota finished second (5:09.74), followed by Nora Ferguson in third (5:11.71), Jacki McKown in fourth (5:12.64) and Katelyn Zumpf in fifth (5:17.20). Ferguson also finished second in the 800-meter run (2:20.87), followed closely by McKown in third (2:21.48) and Erin Fitzgerald in fourth (2:21.60). 

Kelsey Kirk cleared 5'4 1/4" to place second in the high jump, and Redlinski and Jordan Flowers finished third and fourth, resepctively, with identical clearances of 5'3", while Miranda Rorer and Sade Gant were second (7.95) and third (7.97) in the 60-meter dash. North Central's distance medley relay team of Cota, Zumpf, Skylar Bayer and Tori Capozziello finished second as well (12:39.76). Megan Costanzo slashed more than 30 seconds off her previous personal best to finish third in the 5,000-meter run (18:02.18), then knocked 18 seconds off her previous best in the 3,000-meter run to finish third in a time of 10:18.73 which ranks second in North Central's history and is less than four seconds short of the Cardinals' indoor record.

North Central's coaching staff was voted the CCIW's Coaching Staff of the Year for the fifth time as well. The Cardinals have now won 13 total CCIW women's track and field championships.

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.