Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
CCIW Press Release
Feb. 6, 2018 - North Central College distance runner
Dhruvil Patel has been recognized as this week's College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Track Athlete of the Week, giving the Cardinals the award for the third time in the past four weeks. The CCIW announced this week's winners on Tuesday.
Patel received the distinction on the strength of his performance at Saturday's Olivet Nazarene University Invitational in Bourbonnais. He won the 3,000-meter run in a personal-best time of eight minutes, 22.78 seconds to record the fastest time by any CCIW competitor in the event this season and the third-fastest nationwide among NCAA Division III athletes. A Division III All-American indoors at 3,000 and 5,000 meters last season, Patel also owns the nation's third-fastest time in the 5,000 in 2018 with a mark of 14:34.96 recorded at North Central's Cardinal Opener on Jan. 19.
The Cardinals' distance medley relay team of
Chris Buechner,
Peyton Piron,
Michael Anderson and
Zach Hird shared the award last week, and
Nolan McKenna was so honored on Jan. 16, when pole vaulter
Dylan Kuipers also claimed the CCIW's Field Athlete of the Week accolades.
North Central hosts the Pat Heenan Invitational on Friday at Al B. Carius Track. Competition is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m.
