Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Iowa State Classic Results
Pat Heenan Invitational Results
Feb. 8, 2019 - The North Central College men's track and field team waged a two-front battle with resounding success on Friday, finding individual success on the road while cruising to a comfortable team victory at home.
The No. 1-ranked Cardinals sent senior distance runner Dhruvil Patel to Ames, Iowa for the Iowa State Classic Friday evening, and the three-time NCAA Division III national champion more than held his own against an otherwise all-Division I field in the 5,000-meter run. Patel placed eighth in the 64-man field, hitting the finish line in 14 minutes, 0.07 seconds to slash more than 20 seconds off his previous indoor personal best. Patel is now the second-fastest at the distance in North Central history and third-fastest ever in Division III.
The rest of the team, meanwhile, was the class of a 10-team field in the Pat Heenan Invitational at Al B. Carius Track. The Cardinals won eight of 16 events and locked up first place in the team standings with 206 points, well ahead of runner-up Olivet Nazarene University's score of 96.
North Central collected the top eight individual finishes in the 5,000-meter run, led by Al Baldonado's personal-best time of 14:24.71 which surpassed the track record of 14:24.83 set by Patel at the same meet last season. Matt Norvell crossed the line second (14:27.55) and Nolan McKenna finished third (14:36.62).
Luke Winder led a 1-2-3 sweep in the pole vault with a season-best clearance of 17 feet, 8.50 inches, which saw Dylan Kuipers clear 16'1.75" to place second and Izaiah Webb came in third at 15'0". Webb added a personal-best first-place showing of his own in the triple jump (46'4.25"). The Cardinals also claimed the first three positions in the mile, as Michael Anderson (4:16.87), Zach Hird (4:16.97) and Chris Buechner (4:17.55) hit the finish line in quick succession.
Peyton Piron and Gavin Cernek owned first (49.01) and second place (49.61), respectively, in the 400-meter dash. Piron added a win in the 200-meter dash (22.48), as did Javon Kunkel in the long jump (22'1.50") and Kyle Hilton in the 60-meter hurdles (8.56).
Other second-place finishes came from Kyle LeBlanc in the high jump (6'3.25") and Brendon Sebastian in the 800-meter run (1:55.25), while third-place points were provided by Cameron Benes in the 800 (1:56.40) and Nate Bailey in the 60-meter dash (7.10).
The Cardinals host the F. Lee Slick Invitational on Friday, Feb. 15.
