Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
WHEATON, Ill. (Apr. 25, 2022) - Nine first-place finishes, five performances among the program's all-time top 10 and two among the nation's top 10 this season punctuated a runaway first place showing by the North Central College women's track and field team Saturday, as the Cardinals won the 11-team Wheaton College Don Church Twilight Meet.
North Central scored 180 points to finish well ahead of a field which included six other College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) programs. Elmhurst University placed second with 122 while Illinois Wesleyan University was third with 110.
Julia Babinec recorded first-place finishes in three of four events, winning the 100-meter hurdles in a personal-best time of 14.08 seconds which ranks second in the program's history and fourth among NCAA Division III competitors this season. Babinec teamed up with
Denise Partee,
Lindsey Novak and
Marcedes Jackson to win the 4-by-100-meter relay in 47.59 seconds. The time equals the fourth-fastest in school history and ranks eighth nationally this season.
Babinec and Novak also joined with
Allison Grady and
Faith Ladin to place first in the 4-by-400-meter relay in a season-best time of 4:01.65 which was more than five seconds faster than the rest of the field. Babinec's time of 25.87 seconds in the 200-meter dash placed third behind Novak (25.52) and Partee (25.70).
The Cardinals swept the top four spots in the pole vault.
Kathy Myrda won the event with a height of 11 feet, 11.75 inches (3.65 meters), followed by
Natalie Johnson (11'5.75", 3.50m),
Kiarah Horn (10'11.75", 3.35m) and
Ariana Rivera (10'6", 3.20m).
Novak finished first in the 400-meter dash in a career-best time of 57.99 seconds, moving up to 10th-fastest in North Central history, while Jackson's winning time of 12.09 seconds in the 100-meter dash is also a personal best. Also achieving first-place points were
Alexandra Draves in the hammer throw (156'10", 47.80m) and Ladin in the javelin throw (128'5", 39.15m).
Hannah Jones competed in the heptathlon at the Augustana College Meet of Champions Friday and Saturday, recording a personal-best total of 4,014 points to place second overall and move into No. 8 in school history. Jones' personal-record distance of 129'5" (39.45m) in the javelin throw was the best in the field and ranks fifth in North Central history.
Jenna Fiore, meanwhile, competed in the 1,500-meter run at the Grand Valley State University (Michigan) Al Owens Classic, placing fifth with a time of 4:39.61.
The Cardinals will send a group to the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, this weekend while also competing in the Elmhurst University Invitational, which will be held at Wheaton Friday.
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