FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Results

Feb. 11, 2011 - For the second straight season, the North Central College women's track and field team has claimed first place at the Chicagoland Indoor Championships, winning five events and cruising to the team championship at Al B. Carius Track.

The seventh-ranked Cardinals piled up 150.33 points, while the University of Chicago finished as the runner-up with 109 and eighth-ranked Carthage placed third with 92.

North Central prevailed in the first scored event of the evening, the distance medley relay. Kala Bingham, Lauren Brightmore, Sheila Walsh and Amanda Laesch finished well clear of the rest of the field in 12 minutes, 6.67 seconds, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships. 

Laesch also finished first in the 3,000-meter run, establishing a new track record with a time of 10:24.47. The Cardinals also got first-place finishes from Kayla Murphy in the 200-meter dash (25.75), Krista Cota in the 800-meter run (2:20.59), and Michelle Criscione in the high jump (5'4 1/4").

Murphy also placed second in the 60-meter dash, finishing in 7.75 seconds to improve her provisional qualifying mark for the national championships. Other second-place finishes for the Cardinals came from Walsh in the 200 (26.38), Carolyn Kalafut in the pole vault (11'1 1/4"), Melissa Savino in the 60-meter hurdles (9.22), and Amanda Marek in the 5,000-meter run (18:35.45). 

Savino added a third-place showing in the long jump (17'2 3/4") and Molly Gstalter was third in the 60-meter hurdles (9.52).

North Central hosts the Cardinal Classic on Friday, Feb. 18, beginning at 5 p.m.