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

Feb. 10, 2015 - For the fourth straight week, the North Central College men's track and field team has received one of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin's (CCIW) Athlete of the Week awards, as pole vaulter Luke Winder was recognized as the conference's top field-event performer for Feb. 2-8. The CCIW announced this week's selections on Tuesday.

Winder was tabbed for the honor for the third time this season after placing first at Saturday's Olivet Nazarene University Invitational with a winning vault of 17 feet, 4 1/2 inches. His season-best clearance established a new facility record and improved the North Central freshman record he already held. The performance ties him with older brother Josh Winder '13 for fourth all-time at North Central and 10th in NCAA Division III history indoors.

Winder currently ranks first among all Division III vaulters and sits nearly 10 inches ahead of his nearest competitor. He also owns a better mark in the event than any vaulter at the NCAA Division II level.

The quartet of Daniel Spaccapaniccia, Derek Nelson, Mustapha Olaoye and Zach Kirby received the distinction after turning in a season-best time of three minutes, 20.24 seconds in the Squig Converse Invitational at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater on Friday. North Central's team finished second behind Monmouth College, which is currently the only NCAA Division III team in the nation to have run faster than the Cardinals this season.

Nelson, Olaoye and Kirby earned Division III All-America honors in the 4x400 relay last spring at the Outdoor National Championships, while Nelson was also an All-America last year indoors in the distance medley relay. Olaoye was a member of the Cardinals' 4x400 relay squad which won the national title in the event at the 2012 indoor championships.

The No. 1-ranked Cardinals have also won three CCIW Athlete of the Week accolades for running events, as Richard Ruske, Travis Morrison, and the 4-by-400-meter relay team of Daniel Spaccapaniccia, Derek Nelson, Mustapha Olaoye and Zach Kirby have all been recognized.

North Central hosts the Chicagoland Indoor Championships at Al B. Carius Track on Saturday. Competition is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m.