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

Results

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (May 8, 2021) - Prevailing in an all-out battle that was not decided until the meet's final competition, the North Central College men's track and field team won the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Outdoor Championship for the 40th time on Saturday, departing Augustana College with the conference trophy for the third straight meet.

The Cardinals headed into the final event, the 10,000-meter run, trailing Wheaton College by a single point, but placed all five of their competitors among the eight scoring places to secure the win. Matt Boelke led the North Central contingent with a second-place finish in 31 minutes, 24.04 seconds, narrowly being outleaned at the finish line by Carroll University's Spencer Kirsteatter. Drew Guimond crossed the line third in 32:07.48, while Clark Kelly placed fifth (32:33.03), Austin Emrath finished sixth (32:39.31) and Jeff Glatz came in eighth (32:46.44).

The point haul from the 10,000 pushed the Cardinals to a team score of 193, while Wheaton placed second with 171. Carroll finished third with 109.5, followed by Augustana (101.5), Millikin University (88), Carthage College (70), Illinois Wesleyan University (61), Elmhurst University (20) and North Park University (2).

North Central won seven of the 21 contested events, three of which owed to the efforts of senior sprinter Michael Stanley. He opened the day by teaming with Kendall Johnson, Maceo Findlay and Jamauri Spivery to win the 4-by-100-meter relay in a time of 41.42 seconds, the fourth-fastest in program history and the Cardinals' first conference title in the event since 2007.

Stanley went on to win the 400-meter dash in a personal-best time of 47.95 seconds, eighth-fastest in the Cardinals' history, before claiming the 200-meter dash in the program's third-fastest time ever (21.58). He closed the day by joining forces with AJ Lehman, Erik Musgrave and Gabe Pommier to place second in the 4-by-400-meter relay (3:22.57).

Pommier, the NCAA Division III national leader in the 1,500-meter run, won that event Saturday in 3:58.62 and also placed second in the 800-meter run (1:53.26). Spivery surged away from the field in the 100-meter dash to win in 10.90 seconds, making him the Cardinals' first conference champ since 1992, while Johnson achieved a personal-best mark of 47'7.75" in the triple jump to place first and move into ninth place all-time outdoors. North Central also got a first-place showing from Nick Janca in the high jump (6'6.75").

Musgrave posted a runner-up finish in the 400-meter hurdles (54.25), as did Tim Bertulis in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:26.23) and James McGlashon in the 5,000-meter run (15:10.84). Ryan Arnold followed McGlashon across the finish line in the 5,000, placing third in 15:14.96.

The Cardinals host the Dr. Keeler Invitational Thursday and Friday at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.