North Central won its 19th national title, and its 14th under coach Al Carius, on May 21-23 in St. Paul, Minn. It marked the fourth track championships for the College.

The Cardinals used a stellar 10,000 meters and a shocking 4x100-meter relay team to get the ball rolling, and it didn't stop until North Central had won the national championship.

"These men had a team focus from day one," said Carius. "This team had the maturity and chemistry to accomplish great things."

The team focus was aided greatly by the throng of North Central faithful who ventured to the Twin Cities.

"When I saw all of the fans in the stands, my butterflies went away," said senior David Thompson of Chicago after his preliminary run of the 200 meters.

Arguably North Central's best track and field team ever, the Cardinals scored 91 points, the most in the history of the school at national competition, to defeat Lincoln University (73) by 18 points. Mt. Union College (Ohio) was third with 55 points and UW-La Crosse with 36 and Rowan University with 35 rounded out the top five.

In all North Central brought 21 men and five women to the meet and produced 15 All-Americans and two national champions on the men's side and three All-America performances on the women's side.

North Central scored 19 points in the 10,000 meters with the Cardinals' senior Matt Brill (30:35.96) of Stratford, N.J., junior Colin Young (30:36.19) of Naperville, and senior Ryan Board (30:54.04) of Crown Point, Ind., placing 2-4. Combining that with a second from senior Jeff Stiles of Ames, Iowa, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and a sixth by senior Steve Draminski of Kewanee, Ill., in the shot put, gave North Central the lead heading into the final day.

The first event on Saturday that swayed the meet in the Cardinals' favor, however, was the 4x100. Four flawless hand-offs gave North Central a commanding lead for senior anchor man Joel Williams of Downers Grove, Ill., who coasted to the win in 40.78 seconds, a new school record and the Cardinals' first ever national championship in the sprints. The other members of the national championship relay team were sophomore Zach Bukal of Chicago, and senior Emil Ostberg of Bensenville, Ill., and Thompson.

That was only the beginning of a tremendous day for Thompson, who won the 200 meters (21.41) and placed third in the 100 (10.67).

With the team victory all sewn up, the cagey veterans had to put the icing on the cake in the 5,000 meters. Stiles came from behind to place third (14:44.56). Brill, who was forced to miss last year's outdoor season due to injury, finished a comeback season with a fifth in the 5K (14:46.25), his 10th All-America honor.

The meet was full of heroes. Senior DuWayne Wright of Woodridge, Ill., who ran for the College of DuPage and Mankato State, enrolled at North Central with am ambition to complete his degree and run track. He was second in the 400 meters in 47.83 seconds after entering the meet as the sixth seed.

Junior Will Swain of Jacksonville, Ill.,the last man to qualify for the meet in the 800 meters with the 20th fastest time, charge late to place fifth in 1:51.08. Junior Tony Rizzo of Schaumburg, Ill., was a two-time All-American on the day, placing seventh in the 800 (1:53.94) and fourth in the 1,500 (3:52.40). Senior Eric Dieckman of Palatine, Ill., whose foot was a in a cast at the beginning of the school year, was aggressive in rehabilitation and ended the year on a high with a third in the 1,500 (3:52.35).

The year was full of magical moments - two Drake Relays wins and a strong finish in an open race where the Cardinals defeated such schools as Arizona State, Iowa and Illinois at Drake; a 300-point performance in crushing the field at the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Championships, North Central's 14th in a row; and the gutsy three-day meet at St. Paul.

Only Kenyon College (18) and UW-La Crosse (15) have won more total Division III men's titles than North Central (14). The Cardinals' other national titles are four NAIA men's swimming championships - 1958, 1962, 1962 and 1963 - and the 1983 NCAA III women's basketball title.

- excerpt from North Central NOW
information provided by the College Archives