Contact: Taiah Gallisath, Sports Information Graduate Assistant,
tkgallisath@noctrl.edu
Feb. 17, 2023 - The North Central College men's track and field team took full advantage of their final home meet before next week's conference championships, turning in a first-place team finish with five event winners at the F. Lee Slick Invitational.
The distance-medley relay of Braden Nicholson, AJ Lehman, Logan Tanttu and Connor Riss kicked off the day's competition in La Crosse, Wisconsin at the UW-La Crosse Indoor Eagle Open where they finished fourth in the event with a time of nine minutes and 56.35 seconds--good for third in program history and seventh in the national rankings.
Back at the Al B. Carius Track, the throws squad swept the top-three spots in the weight throw with RIley Hughes taking the event win with a throw of 47 feet, 1.50 inches (14.36 meters), followed by Gavin McAlister in second (14.25m), and Anthony Zajac in third (14.16m). Anthony Divenere won the pole vault with his clearance of 14 feet, 5.25 inches (4.40m) followed by teammate Gavin Carr in second (4.25m).
Jamauri Spivery claimed the Cardinals first win on the track after turning in a time of 6.95 seconds to win the 60-meter dash. Lucas Hoffman was the first runner across the finish line in the mile clocking a four minute, 15.73 second time, followed by teammates Julian Higueros in second (4:16.18) and Max Svienty in third (4:18.44). Jonathan Olenek won the 3,000-meter run with a time of eight minutes, 51.63 seconds, claiming the Cardinals fifth and final event win of the night.
Charley Smith clocked a personal best of 22.43 seconds in the 200-meter dash to finish second. His time currently ranks 10th in the program's history. Also turning in a fourth place finish was the 4-by-400 meter relay team of Hoffman, Owen Dare, Gage Nielsen and Michael Molloy (3:35.61). Nielsen also turned in a third-place finish in the 800-meter-run in a time of one minute, 56.61 seconds.
Finishing third in their respective events were Tyler Piron in the 400-meter dash (51.88), Colton Oleson in the high jump (1.83m) and Jahron Williams in the long jump (6.30m).
North Central secured the team win with 175 points while Lewis followed in a distant second with 136 points. Wheaton score 114.50 points to finish third followed by Elmhurst (64.50), Dupage (41), Harper (21) and Concordia-Chicago (5).
North Central heads to Bloomington, Ill. for the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Championship on Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25. The meet is set to begin at 11 a.m. on Friday.
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