College Track: NCC men, women sweep CCIW indoor meets
FROM STAFF REPORTS February 23, 2013 9:22PM
The championship which the North Central College men’s track and field team has come to consider its birthright was retained without incident Friday and Saturday, as the Cardinals claimed the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Indoor Championship for the 13th consecutive year at Carthage College.
The fourth-ranked Cardinals won six of the 17 events and totaled 250 points, while 11th-ranked Augustana College was a distant second with 131 and 25th-ranked Carthage placed third with 114. North Central has won the CCIW’s indoor championship every year since its institution in 2001.
The Cardinals opened their title defense in impressive fashion on Friday, winning four of the first six events which were contested. Matt Souvannasing established a new meet record in winning the long jump with a distance of 23 feet, 7 1/4 inches, while Josh Winder placed first in the pole vault (15’5 1/2”), and Mitch Gilbert won the 5,000-meter run (14:54.99) as the Cardinals took five of the top six places. North Central’s distance medley relay team of Juliano Lodi, Dionte Hackler, Marlen Hamilton and John Crain narrowly edged out runner-up Wheaton College with a time of 9:58.89, which has been bettered by only one team in Division III competition this season.
Joseph Hletko completed his second straight victory in the heptathlon on Saturday, establishing new meet and school records with a total of 4,655 points, and Matt Muth hit the finish line in 4:15.47 to win the mile run as three teammates were among the next four finishers.
Matt Brinkmeier followed Muth across the line in the mile (4:16.64), while Crain placed third (4:17.11). Daniel Kerley was right behind Gilbert in the 5,000, placing second (14:55.83), and Zach Heerspink finished behind only Souvannasing in the long jump (22’11”). Other North Central second-place finishers included Souvannasing in the 55-meter dash (6.50), Dayton Henriksen in the 200 (22.51), David Janet in the 3,000 (8:34.57), Kyle Pembrook in the high jump (6’7”) and the 4-by-400-meter relay team of Hackler, Hamilton, Tony Kennedy and Derek Nelson (3:21.38).
Hackler placed third in the 400 (49.77), as did Thomas Stacey in the pole vault (14’11 1/2”) and Adam Weidner in the shot put (50’1 1/4”). Another third-place showing came from Peter Geraghty , who, unable to compete in his normal event, the pole vault, due to arm injuries, took up the triple jump and leaped 43’11 3/4” to score points for the Cardinals in his first competition in the event.
On the women’s side, after a one-year hiatus, North Central has returned to the top of the victory stand at the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Indoor Championships, claiming their second team title in three seasons and its fourth championship overall.
The Cardinals totaled 175 points to top last year’s champion, third-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University, which placed second with 156, while host Carthage College finished third with 115.
North Central claimed individual CCIW titles in four events, as Kayla Murphy won the 200-meter dash (25.65) seconds, Jocelyn Redlinski won the 55-meter hurdles (8.45), Elizabeth Composto won the pole vault (12 feet, 2 inches), and the 4-by-400-meter relay team of Amanda Coglianese, Elana Ainsley, Priscilla Colon and Amina Jackson outleaned Wheaton College, 4:00.49 to 4:00.80, to place first as well.
Redlinski was the runner-up in the pentathlon with a North Central record 3,275 points and also placed second in the high jump (5’2 1/2”) as the Cardinals claimed five of the eight scoring places in the event. Jordan Flowers was third in the high jump (5’2 1/2”), while Monique Lincoln placed fourth (5’1 1/4”), Whitney English was fifth (5’1 1/4”) and Kelsey Kirk placed seventh (5’1 1/4”). Redlinski added a third-place finish in the long jump as well (17’4”).
Ebony Stallworth finished second in the shot put, breaking her own school record with a distance of 45’3 1/2”, while Madison Renfro was second to Redlinski in the 55-meter hurdles (8.47). Other third-place finishes came from Ainsley in the 55- (7.37) and 200-meter dashes (26.13), Coglianese in the 400 (58.45), and Brooke Patterson in the pole vault (11’2 1/4”).
Composto’s CCIW title in the pole vault was her second straight at the indoor championships, while Redlinski repeated in the 55 hurdles.
