Contact: Taiah Gallisath, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, tkgallisath@noctrl.edu

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Feb. 25, 2023) - With just a one-point spread at the start of the final event, the North Central College women's track and field team proved victorious for the fourth-straight year as the program raised the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Indoor Championship trophy on Saturday at Illinois Wesleyan University.

For the second-straight year, the indoor championship title was decided by the grit of North Central's 4-by-400-meter relay team as the Cardinals led by just one point over the Elmhurst University Bluejays ahead of the race. The relay quartet of Cali Minkie, Kyla Miller, Lindsey Novak, and Julia Babinec went head-to-head with Elmhurst, crossing the finish line in three minutes, 59.23 seconds to finish first, two seconds ahead of the Bluejays in second. North Central secured the championship with 144.50 points while Elmhurst finished second with 141.50. Wheaton College placed third with 75 points, followed by Carthage College (65.50), Millikin University (61.50), Illinois Wesleyan University (59), Carroll University (46.50), Augustana College (36.50), and North Park University (33).

Novak scored in all four of her events on the weekend, turning in another first-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.16 seconds while also finishing second in the 400-meter dash (57.58) and fourth in the 60-meter dash (7.93). 

Two more first-place finishes came from the field as Alexandra Draves set a new Shirk Center facility record with her leading throw of 57 feet, and seven inches (17.55 meters)--a record that has stood since 2000-- and Natalie Johnson won the pole vault with her clearance of 11 feet, 10 inches (3.61m). The Cardinals swept the top-three spots in the pole vault as teammates Gwen Berenyi (3.51m) and Ariana Rivera (3.31) finished second and third, respectively.

Prior to her heroic efforts in the 4-by-400-meter relay, Babinec turned in a second-place effort in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.81 seconds while teammate, Denise Partee was just behind in third (8.99).

Faith Ladin finished second in the pentathlon event with a personal best of 3,125 points--good for fifth in program history. Ladin was first in the pentathlon long jump (5.19m), second in the 60-meter hurdles (9.58), and third in the shot put (10.12m). 

Third-place efforts came from Marcedes Jackson in the 60-meter dash (7.79) and Minkie in the 400-meter dash (1:00.05). 
North Central shifts its focus toward preparations for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships, which are scheduled to be held March 10-11 in Birmingham, Alabama. The Cardinals will look to better their efforts at the Carthage and Wartburg final qualifiers on March 3-4.

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