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

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Mar. 11, 2023) - North Central College men's track and field's Connor Riss and Max Svienty each climbed the podium this weekend after achieving personal bests at the NCAA Division III National Championships in Birmingham, Alabama on Friday and Saturday.

Svienty toed the line for the 5,000-meter run on Friday where he quickly found his niche in the middle of the pack. Staying within the top-10 for much of the race, Svienty entered the final lap in seventh before kicking down three runners to finish fourth overall and claim his first-ever All-American honor. He clocked a nearly 15 second personal best time of 14 minutes and 8.54 seconds to move into fourth in the program's all-times list.

After a night's recovery, Svienty returned to the Birmingham CrossPlex on Saturday for the 3,000-meter run, this time with teammate Connor Riss by his side. At the start of the gun, Riss and Svienty connected and settled into the top 10 group through the first few laps. Riss found himself in a sprint to the finish alongside four others where he turned in a five second personal best time of eight minutes and 8.86 seconds, earning his first track and field All-American honor and clocking the second-fastest time in program history in the event since 2014. Riss finished in sixth place as he and the rest of the top nine finishers all ran under the previous championship record of 8:10.40. This marks Riss's second-ever All-American award as he was also named a cross-country All-American back in November. 

In his second race of the weekend, Svienty turned in a 13th-place finish in a time of eight minutes and 20.16 seconds. 

North Central begins its outdoor campaign on March 31 as the Cardinals head to St. Louis for the WashU Distance Carnival.

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