National Championships
2018 Indoor 5,000-Meter Run (14:22.48)
2018 Outdoor 10,000-Meter Run (29:47.30)
2018 Cross Country (24:24.5)
2019 Indoor 5,000-Meter Run (14:24.86)
2019 Outdoor 10,000-Meter Run (30:14.05)
2019 Outdoor 5,000-Meter Run (14:40.86)

Dhruvil Patel was crowned as North Central College's 60th individual national champion in men's track and field at the 2018 indoor championships, emerging victorious in the 5,000-meter run. In third place for most of the final mile, Patel darted inside race leader Darin Lau of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, the Division III national cross country champion the previous fall, and took the lead with one lap remaining. Patel surged away to win in a personal-best time of 14 minutes, 22.48 seconds, the fourth-fastest in North Central history indoors.

Patel became the sixth Cardinal to win the indoor 5,000 after having placed second in the same event last year. He returned to the track later in the same championship for the 3,000-meter run. After biding his time near the back of the pack early in the race, he moved up through the field as the pace picked up. Steadily picking off competitors, Patel hit the finish line fourth in a personal-best time of 8:19.87, also fourth-fastest in the Cardinals' indoor history.

He won the 10,000 meters at that year's outdoor national championships, in a race which was moved up roughly three hours from its original scheduled start time of 11:05 a.m. to 8 a.m. due to unseasonably warm temperatures. At the 4,000-meter mark, Patel began to assert his will on the competition, gradually stretching out his lead to roughly seven seconds by the time he hit the halfway point of the race in 15:03. Between the fourth and fifth mile, he surged ahead on his own to extend his lead to 20 seconds, and by the time he hit the finish line, he was more than 30 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer in a time of 29:47.30. 

"(North Central associate head coach) Al (Carius) always says outdoor track and weather go hand in hand. Sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's cold. I've run in all kinds of weather this season. It was normal for me and I felt comfortable.

"I kind of knew people would be playing off what I was doing out there. As soon as I took the lead, I felt comfortable, and I started picking it up a little bit. It just turned out I was able to run away from the whole field."

A third individual national title came as part of a team championship at the national cross country championships the following fall, as Patel bided his time in a large lead pack early on and took over with purpose late in the 8,000-meter race, winning the Cardinals' first individual cross country championship since 2000 and leading the Cardinals to their third straight team title and 19th overall, adding to what is already a national all-divisions record for the most national championships in the sport.

"It feels great," said Patel after winning the national championship on the same course (Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winnecone, Wisconsin) where he placed 77th as a freshman as part of a team that finished fifth overall. "I wouldn't be able to do this without my teammates, coaches, family and friends. It's been a long process from freshman year to here. In 2015, we didn't perform as well as we knew we could. Year after year, we kept thinking about this race. We were confident but we didn't flaunt it."

Patel successfully defended his 2018 indoor championship in the 5,000-meter run on Mar. 8, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. On the tail end of a busy day after running in a newly-instituted preliminary heat of the 3,000-meter run, Patel ran conservatively in the early going, passing one mile in four minutes, 41 seconds and two miles in 9:22 in the middle of the pack before moving up front with about a mile to go. Patel covered the final 800 meters in 2:10, hitting the finish line in 14:24.86 with a four-second margin of victory.
 
"It's just a great feeling, more so for my team than myself," Patel said. "We knew we had a great shot to win, and for Luke and Dylan and Zach (Hird), this is it for them, so I wanted them to go out with a bang."

Patel closed his collegiate career at the 2019 Division III Outdoor Championships in Geneva, Ohio with a successful defense of his 10,000-meter national title, claiming one of the narrowest wins of his career in sharp contrast to his 30-second margin of victory in 2018. 

Opting for a more conservative strategy this time around, Patel ran within the field early and was part of a six-man pack which broke free during the second mile of the 6.2-mile race. The main group remained largely intact until less than a mile remained, but by the time the bell rang for the final lap, only Carleton College (Minnesota) sophomore Lucas Mueller and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire senior Darin Lau remained joined in battle with Patel. 

Patel toured the final 400 meters in 1:01.37, capping off a 4:34 mile to close the race, but was unable to shake Mueller until just before the finish line, pulling in front by a single full stride to prevail in a winning time of 30 minutes, 14.05 seconds to Mueller's 30:14.26. 

"Last year, I kind of ran away with it," Patel said. "I kind of thought the same would happen this year, but it didn't, so you have to adapt. I love those kinds of finishes, I love being in a competitive environment and I knew I had the leg speed to pull it off." 

Patel stepped onto the track Saturday for the 5,000 greeted by less than ideal conditions, as temperatures neared 90 degrees with high humidity. Again opting to run patiently, he bided his time in the middle of the lead pack until moving in front with 600 meters to go. 

Heading into the final lap, Patel held a slim lead over Pomona-Pitzer Colleges' (California) Andy Reischling. The issue remained in doubt until the runners made the final turn onto the front straightaway, and Patel closed the door with a powerful final sprint that carried him to the win in 14:40.86 to Reischling's 14:43.41. Patel's final lap of 1:03.35 was more than two seconds faster than any runner in the field. His sweep of the 5,000 and 10,000 in the same championship was achieved for the 11th time in Division III history and the fourth by a North Central athlete (Dan Mayer '94 in 1993 and 1994, Michael Spain '11 in 2011).

"I was feeling really good," he said. "I just kept patient. When I made my move, I noticed everyone around me was kind of tired, so I made the move and didn't look back. 

"Distance running is a lot about patience. I was thinking about making a move with 2,000 meters to go, but I decided to keep feeling the competition out. You have to be intuitive when you race. I just read the field and read my body."