Contact:
Taiah Gallisath, Associate Director of Athletics Communication, 630-637-5302
GENEVA, Ill. (Sept. 13, 2025) – The North Central College men's cross country team endured a rain-soaked Northwestern Medicine Cross Country course after morning thunderstorms came through Saturday morning, Sept. 13. Despite the short weather delay, six Cardinals posted top-10 finishes at the Aurora Spartan XC Classic as North Central claimed the team win with 22 points.
North Central is two-for-two in meet wins to start the year after winning the NCCXC Invitational last weekend with a perfect score of 15 points. Today's 22 points outdid Purdue University Northwest's 38 points for second with College of DuPage finishing third with 94 points in the seven-team field.
The meet's top-10 was entirely comprised of North Central and Purdue Northwest runners with PNW's Jalen Strietelmeier taking the top spot in 26:33.1.
In his first race of the 2025 season,
Ari Elmayan turned in a runner-up finish in 26:51.6, a new personal-best for the sophomore. Freshman
Jack Ryan finished third in his second collegiate race, clocking a 27:06.3 while sophomore
Austin Wesley was just behind in fourth at 27:11.2.
Purdue Northwest snuck in another runner in fifth-place followed by
Cullen Williams in sixth and
Daniel Kasperan in seventh. Williams posted a time of 27:22.9 while Kasperan came in at 27:26.3.
Luke Cerwin was sandwiched between two more PNW competitors, as he crossed the finish line in ninth-place with a time of 27:42.8.
Five additional Cardinals finished in the top-20 including
Ethan Aichholz (12
th, 27:53.7),
Matthew McKee (15
th, 28:12.0),
Connor Reed (16
th, 28:15.8),
Jackson Carius (18
th, 28:35.1), and
Noah Gilbert (19
th, 28:37.7).
North Central looks ahead to next week's DIII Pre-Nationals meet in Spartanburg, S.C. The Saturday, Sept. 20 race will kick off at 9:15 a.m. ET for the men at the Milliken Research Center. The Cardinals will also have a squad racing locally at Wheaton College's Gil Dodds Invitational on Saturday at St. James Farm in Warrenville, Ill.
