Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Results
Feb. 24, 2024 - Claiming first-place finishes in five events and overwhelming its opposition with a superior show of depth, the North Central College men's track and field team claimed its seventh consecutive College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Indoor Championship Saturday at Al B. Carius Track.
Now winners of 22 of the 23 CCIW indoor meets that have been contested, the Cardinals finished with 165 points to finish 50 points clear of Illinois Wesleyan University and Carthage College, which tied for second place with 115. Millikin University placed fourth (98), followed by Augustana College (75), Wheaton College (58), Carroll University (17), Elmhurst University (12) and North Park University (7).
North Central had two student-athletes, sprinter/hurdler Marcus Caselberry and distance runner Braden Nicholson, claim individual conference championships in two events. Caselberry won the 60-meter hurdles in a personal-best time of 8.41 seconds, improving upon his North Central freshman record and moving up to fourth on the program's all-time top 10 list. He later returned to the track and won the 60-meter dash in a personal-record time of 6.90 seconds, again lowering his freshman record, before claiming second place in the 200-meter dash (22.35). The first competitor in the meet's history to win the dash and hurdle events in the same championship, Caselberry was voted the CCIW First-Year Student-Athlete of the Meet and Track Athlete of the Meet by the conference's coaches.
Nicholson, meanwhile, prevailed by a margin of 20 seconds in winning the 5,000-meter run on Friday (14:38.88), then emerged late in Saturday's mile run to finish first in a personal-best time of 4:11.48 to move into the No. 7 spot on the Cardinals' all-time list indoors. North Central's Max Svienty placed second in the 5,000 (14:58.91), while Jacob Everix came in third in the mile (4:14.76).
Jayden Liese, meanwhile, posted a distance of 47 feet, 2.50 inches (14.39 meters) to take first place in the triple jump while teammate Kevin Fist placed third (44'4.75", 13.53m). Connor Riss' time of 8:29.99 earned him second place in the 3,000-meter run, and Riss was followed across the line in succession by BJ Sorg in third (8:33.70), Jonathan Olenek in fourth (8:39.34) and Kyle Nofziger in fifth (8:39.40).
Riss also anchored North Central's distance medley relay team on Friday, as he teamed up with Logan Schaefer, Alex Benkart and Gage Nielsen to place third (10:18.67). Also placing third with personal-best efforts were Colton Oleson in the high jump (6'5", 1.96m) and Ben Balboa in the shot put (48'11", 14.91m), while Anthony Divenere's personal-record clearance of 15'3" (4.65m) earned him fourth place in the pole vault.
Jacob Ahlberg's point total in the heptathlon (4,072), meanwhile, was a personal best by more than 500 points which moves him into No. 4 on the Cardinals' all-time list. Ahlberg's performances in the shot put (36'9", 9.49m) and pole vault (13'1.50", 4.00m) are the best ever by a North Central heptathlete indoors.
North Central will send athletes to final qualifier events at Carthage College and Ripon College next weekend before the 2024 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships Mar. 8-9 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
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