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

CCIW Press Release

Apr. 8, 2014 - The North Central College men's track and field team has swept the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Athlete of the Week awards for Mar. 31-Apr. 6, as John Crain has been selected the Running Event Athlete of the Week and Derek Nelson was chosen as the Field Event Athlete of the Week. The CCIW announced this week's honorees on Tuesday.

Crain also became the first athlete in any division to win the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's (USTFCCCA) National Athlete of the Week award six times after opening the outdoor season on Friday at the Stanford Invitational. He placed 24th in a 75-man field full of NCAA Division I and post-collegiate athletes in the 10,000-meter run, turning in a time of 28 minutes, 52.73 seconds which knocked nearly a minute off of his previous personal best and stands as the second-fastest 10,000 ever run by a Division III athlete.

Nelson, meanwhile, won the javelin throw at Saturday's Wheaton College Invitational with a personal-best distance of 172 feet, five inches, which currently ranks first in the CCIW. He also placed second in the 400-meter hurdles (54.81) and the 4-by-400-meter relay (3:23.22).

North Central travels to Lewis University for the Chicagoland Outdoor Championships this weekend.