After two days of preliminary and final competition, the North Central Cardinal men came out on top once again in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Outdoor Track & Field Championships. After four first-place finishes on Saturday — along with four first-place finishes in yesterday’s events — the men captured their 38th CCIW title with a total of 286.5 points, 25 points ahead of second-place finisher and conference rival Augustana College who scored 261.5 points.
In the field, Liam Sullivan, ’21, placed fifth in the shot put and the first first-place finish of the day came from Michael LeBlanc, ’20, in the high jump. He was joined in CCIW honors by teammates Nicholas Janca, ’21, and Adam Poklop, ’18, who placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
Elsewhere in the field, six points were added to the men’s score after the triple jump. Garret Lyle, ’20, Kendall Johnson, ’21, and Javon Kunkel, ’20, went 6-7-8 in the event. Kunkel also earned second-place honors in the long jump yesterday, along with Nick Stuttle, ’20, and Johnathan Gieson, ’20 who placed sixth and eighth, respectively.
Caleb Lundquist, ’18, followed up his conference-winning, school-record breaking and national-ranking javelin performance of 61.28 meters yesterday with a second-place finish in the discus throw with a distance of 47.97 meters.
Events on the track got started with the 4×100 relay and a second place finish. That was quickly followed by a dominating 1-2-4-5 finish from the men in the 1,500-meter run. Zach Hird, ’18, gave the team the second first-place finish of the day in the event.
The action continued with the 110-meter hurdles and another first-place finish in the event from Kyle Hilton, ’19. He was joined in the race by teammate Stuttle, who earned fifth-place honors. Hilton also earned a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles along with teammates Peyton Piron, ’19, who got second, and Gavin Cernak, ’20, who placed seventh.
Daniel Spaccapaniccia, ’18, started off his event-filled day with a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash. He followed that up with a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter dash. Maceo Findlay, ’20, also ran with Spaccapaniccia and Michael Stanley, ’21, who placed second, in the 200-meter dash, placing sixth. Findlay was also North Central’s lone finalist in the 100-meter dash, placing sixth in the event.
Ben Nordman, ’18, who was on the second-place 4×400 relay that ended the meet, also ran the 400-meter dash and finished in sixth, right behind Spaccapaniccia.
After a dominating run in the 10,000-meter run yesterday, the distance team took charge of the 5,000-meter run on day 2, led by Dhruvil Patel, ’19, in first with a time of 15:00.4. Patel also leads Division III in the event after a school-record performance at the Drake Relays hosted in Des Moines, Iowa. He was joined by teammates Matthew Norvell, ’19, Matt Osmulski, ’20, Hird and Alex Makrounis, ’21, who placed second, third, fourth and eighth, respectively.
The women had a solid day across the board, starting off with the end of the heptathlon. Hailey Dammier, ’19, and Erin Donnelly, ’21, came out fourth and eighth, respectively, after the end of their seven events. Naomi Yamane, ’19, was a standout in the field events with fourth-place finishes in both the shot put and discus throws.
The jumps team performed well, too, adding five points to the team score after sixth and seventh-place finishes from Taiah Gallisath, ’20, and Veronica Ramming, ’19, in the high jump. Kelsey McLaurin, ’21, and Lauren Kainrath, ’21, added another 11 more points after the triple jump finals and a second and sixth-place finish, respectively.
McLaurin was joined by Milia Harris, ’20, Kyley Vicik, ’19, and Mayson Whipple, ’18, for a fourth-place spot in the 4×100 relay. Whipple later placed sixth in the open 100-meter dash and sixth in the 200-meter dash. McLaurin finished off her day in the same event with a fifth-place finish in a time of 25.7.
After a short break, Harris returned to the track for a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles. Hurdling teammate Anna Baltudis, ’21, represented the Cardinals in the 400-meter hurdles, placing fifth.
The 400-meter dash added eight more points for the team after Elizabeth McCadd, ’21, Bethany Bachmann, ’18, and Kaitlin Bonney, ’21, went 5-6-8 in the event. Their mid-distance teammates earned another six points after a 6-7-8 finish in the 800-meter run by Dianne Barajas, ’19, Allison Hartman, ’18, and Alexis Henz, ’21.
In the distance events, Madelyn Scopp, ’20, ended the day with fifth-place finishes in both the 1,500-meter run and 5,000-meter run. Barajas joined Scopp in the 1,500-meter run with a third-place finish.
After the dust had settled, the ladies secured fifth place overall at the end of the CCIW championships and a disqualification in the 4×400 relay. Wheaton College took the title on the women’s side.
