Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

CCIW Press Release

Oct. 17, 2017 – For the third time this season, North Central College junior Dhruvil Patel has been named College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week for the week of Oct. 9-15, released by the conference on Tuesday.

Patel finished second out of 354 runners at the pre-national meet hosted by Principia College on Saturday, clocking a time of 24:41.97 over the 8,000-meter (five mile) course, finishing just one second behind individual champion Isaac Garcia-Cassani of the State University of New York at Geneseo. 

North Central placed all five runners in the top-15, scoring 47 points while the No. 2 ranked team in the country, SUNY Geneseo, finished 103 points back with a team total of 150 points.

North Central runners have now won five CCIW Athlete of the Week awards this season, as Patel also earned the distinction on Sept. 6 and Oct. 3, while teammates Zach Hird and Aaron Spivey received the weekly award on Sept. 12 and Sept. 19, respectively.

The Cardinals strive to capture their 44^th consecutive CCIW championship on Oct. 28 at St. James Farm in Warrenville, Illinois.