Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Results
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (May 7, 2016) - Turning in five victories and a series of record-breaking performances, the North Central College women's track and field team came away from the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Outdoor Championships with a second-place finish Friday and Saturday at Augustana College.
The 14th-ranked Cardinals totaled 172.50 points, finishing behind only eighth-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University's score of 222. Carthage College placed third (134.50), followed by Wheaton College (131.50), Augustana College (83.50), North Park University (40) and Millikin University (33).
North Central claimed five individual championships over the course of the weekend, including two each from
Madison Renfro and
Megan Costanzo. Renfro won the 100-meter hurdles in 14.04 seconds, breaking her own meet record with a time of 13.91 in Friday's preliminary heats, before winning the 400-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 1:01.70. She also teamed with
Sade Gant,
Mayson Whipple and
Kailie Briza to place second in the 4-by-100-meter relay (48.13). Renfro is now a five-time CCIW individual outdoor champion and was voted the CCIW's Track Athlete of the Meet for her efforts.
Costanzo won the 10,000-meter run on Friday (37:18.51), leading
Amanda Cortese and
Helen Majer across the finish line in third (39:31.24) and fourth (39:31.27) place, respectively, before winning Saturday's 5,000-meter run in 17:46.20. Costanzo, now a three-time CCIW 10,000-meter champion and a 5,000-meter titlist indoors and outdoors the last two years, also finished third in the 1,500-meter run in 4:42.72.
Kayla Etherton scored the Cardinals' fifth victory in the hammer throw, uncorking a personal-best mark of 177 feet, seven inches which ranks seventh-best nationally among NCAA Division III competitors. North Central also saw a pair of freshman records broken in the throwing events, as
Naomi Yamane placed second in the shot put (43'8 1/2") and fifth in the discus throw (133'11"). Yamane now ranks second in the Cardinals' history in the shot put and fourth in the discus.
North Central also got second-place finishes from
Courtney Meyer in the pole vault (11'8") and
Priscilla Colon in the 800-meter run (2:15.40). Third-place showings also came from
Hayley Falzarano in the javelin throw (134'10"),
Jessica Sutfin in the heptathlon (4,232), Gant in the 100-meter dash (12.74) and
Kelsey Kirk in the high jump (5'1 3/4").
The Cardinals host the first of two straight home meets next weekend. The Dr. Keeler Invitational will be contested Thursday and Friday at Jay and Dot Buikema Track.
