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

Results

KENOSHA, Wis. (Feb. 25, 2018) - A true team effort propelled the North Central College men's track and field team back to the top of the awards stand at Carthage College on Saturday, as the top-ranked Cardinals proved themselves the class of the field at the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Indoor Championships for the 17th time in the past 18 seasons.

North Central won seven of the 17 contested events and also had seven events in which each one of its entrants scored points toward the team standings. The Cardinals finished with a total of 240.5 points, well ahead of runner-up Augustana College's score of 175.50. Wheaton College was a distant third with 70 points, followed by Carthage College (69), Illinois Wesleyan University (41), Carroll University (27), Millikin University (25), Elmhurst College (10) and North Park University (5).

The Cardinals' coaching staff was recognized as the CCIW's Coaching Staff of the Year, while junior sprinter Peyton Piron was honored as the Track Athlete of the Meet. Piron won the 400-meter dash in a personal-best time of 48.69 seconds, establishing a new track record and ranking third-fastest in school history indoors. He also teamed with Daniel Spaccapaniccia, Maceo Findlay and Ben Nordman to win the 4-by-400-meter relay in a track-record time of 3:18.53 and placed third in the 200-meter dash (22.63).

North Central swept the top five places in two events. Matt Osmulski won the 5,000-meter run on Friday in 14:52.85, followed in succession by Steve Sismelich (14:58.95), Al Baldonado (15:02.87), Argeni Bailon (15:06.37) and Alex Makrounis (15:06.45). On Saturday, Dhruvil Patel led the field to the finish line in the 3,000-meter run (8:28.15), with Dan O'Keefe (8:29.24), Matt Norvell (8:33.62), Zach Hird (8:36.91) and Nolan McKenna (8:38.12) also finishing ahead of the rest of the competition.

Chris Buechner led a 1-2-3 Cardinal finish in the mile run, placing first in 4:17.05, followed by Jeremy Ducharme (4:19.62) and Ian Irvine (4:21.06). Kyle Hilton's winning time of 7.83 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles is the sixth-fastest in North Central's history, while Nick Stuttle finished second in 7.96. Dylan Kuipers cleared 16 feet, 0.75 inches to win the pole vault, with Casey Wood placing third at 14'7.25".

Michael Anderson placed second in the 800-meter run (1:55.08), and Brendon Sebastian (1:55.41), Jonah Penningroth (1:56.38), Buechner (1:57.26) and Chris Suda (1:57.33) occupied the next four spots. Michael Stanley finished second in the 200 (22.55) and Spaccapaniccia came in fourth (22.66) while also placing third in the 400 (49.65). Adam Poklop (second place) and Kyle LeBlanc (fourth) both cleared 6'6.75" in the high jump, and the distance medley relay team of Gabe Pommier, Gavin Cernek, Jake Jaskowiak and Zach Michael placed third (10:26.58).

The Cardinals will send a group to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Final Qualifier on Saturday before the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Alabama Mar. 9-10.