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

Results

GREENSBORO, N.C. (May 29, 2021) - Making its long-awaited return to national championship competition, the North Central College men's track and field team returned to the winner's circle in a pair of events at Irwin Belk Track over the weekend, closing the 2021 outdoor campaign with a eighth-place finish in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships.

North Central finished with a total of 28 points to match the University of Wisconsin-Stout for eighth place. Wartburg College (Iowa) won the meet with 54 points, followed by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (49), the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (48), Rowan University (41) and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (39).

The Cardinals climbed to the top spot on the awards podium in two events in less than an hour on Saturday. Gabe Pommier, the Division III national leader in the 1,500-meter run all season long, imposed his will on the field in the final just as he had in Thursday's preliminary heats, surging to the front of the pack soon after the start of the race and remaining there throughout. Pommier stepped up the pace over the final two laps of the final to keep himself clear of the field, covering the final 800 meters in 1:58.45 to finish with a personal-best time of 3:46.63. 

Pommier is the fourth Cardinal to win an outdoor national title in the 1,500 or its forerunner, the mile run, and the first for the North Central men's program since Tim McCoskey '01 in 2000. 

Michael Stanley followed by stepping on the track in the 400-meter dash final after smashing his previous personal best in Friday's qualifying heats with a time of 47.04 seconds. Stanley turned back challenges from Wartburg College's Dallas Wright and the University of Mount Union's Jared Storm down the home stretch and emerged victorious with a time of 46.74 seconds. Stanley's time establishes a new North Central record at the distance, eclipsing the time of 46.84 set by Dan Benton '11 when Benton won the 2011 outdoor title. 

Stanley returned to the track after a rain delay to compete in the 200-meter dash finals and turned in yet another personal-best effort, hitting the finish line in 21.26 seconds to narrowly miss matching the North Central record of 21.25 and finish third overall. It is the eighth All-America award of Stanley's collegiate career.

North Central picked up a fourth All-America honor in the high jump, as Nick Janca placed seventh overall with a clearance of six feet, 7.50 inches. Kendall Johnson finished ninth in the triple jump with a distance of 47'2.50" and Johnson and Stanley joined Maceo Findlay and Jamauri Spivery to finish ninth in the preliminary heats of the 4-by-100-meter relay (41.34).

North Central now has 142 individual and relay national championships in its history, 67 of which have come from the men's track and field program.