FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Results
KENOSHA, Wis. (Feb. 28, 2015) - The North Central College women's track and field team nearly saw its quest for a third straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Indoor Championship bear fruit on Saturday, pulling ahead late in the meet before placing second by a three-point margin in this year's meet at Carthage College.
The 18th-ranked Cardinals owned a two-point lead prior to the meet's final event, the 4-by-400-meter relay. Second-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University secured the team trophy by winning the relay and totaling 190 points in the championship, while the Cardinals placed fifth and posted 187 points.
Carthage College was a distant third with 85.5 points, followed by Wheaton College (80.5), Augustana College (59), North Park University (30), Millikin University (25) and Elmhurst College (8).
North Central claimed four individual CCIW Championships during the two-day meet, half of which came from distance runner Megan Costanzo. The junior accounted for 28 points on her own, winning the 5,000-meter run on Friday in a time of 17 minutes, 21.04 seconds to break the track record and become the second-fastest North Central runner in the event before winning the 3,000-meter run on Saturday in a school-record time of 10:11.34. Costanzo also placed second in Saturday's mile run (5:09.48) and was voted the CCIW's Track Athlete of the Meet for her efforts.
The Cardinals swept the top two spots in the pole vault, as Elizabeth Composto cleared 12 feet, two inches to win the event for the fourth straight year and Brooke Patterson cleared 11'8" to place second. Courtney Meyer tied for third place with a clearance of 11'2 1/4". Composto becomes the fifth athlete in the program's history to win an event at the CCIW meet four straight years and the third to do so indoors.
Hurdler Madison Renfro managed a record-setting performance of her own, winning the 55-meter hurdles in a time of 8.07 seconds which established new school, conference and track records. She later placed second in the 55-meter dash in a school-record time of 7.21 seconds.
The Cardinals claimed three of the top four spots in the 20-pound weight throw, as Lina Baker placed second (51'5 3/4"), Kayla Etherton finished third (49'1 1/2") and Ebony Stallworth placed fourth (48'8 3/4"). Stallworth also added a second-place finish in the shot put (45'0 1/4"), while Jordan Flowers' indoor personal best of 5'4 1/4" tied her for second in the high jump.
Amanda Cortese added a third-place showing in the 5,000 (18:51.78) and Allison Hartman and Priscilla Colon finished third (2:22.24) and fourth (2:22.26), respectively, in the 800-meter run.
North Central travels to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Last Chance Qualifier next Saturday for its final competition before the NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships. Action is set to get under way at 10:30 a.m.
