FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Results

Feb. 18, 2011-- Winning nine events and tallying six national qualifiers, the North Central College men's track & field squad more than doubled its nearest competitors point total in the team standings, winning the Cardinal Classic on Friday night at the Al B. Carius Track.

The No. 1-ranked Cardinals amassed 251 points in the team standings, outdistancing runner-up and 23rd-ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville by a 133-point margin. College of DuPage was third at the 10-team meet with 54 points.

Robert Kapustka hit the automatic qualifying mark in the weight throw with a toss of 61 feet 9 inches to win the event before hitting the provisional standard in the shot put with a heave of 51' 9 1/4" to finish as the top collegiate competitor. Teammate Richard Kingery was runner-up in both events, recording a throw of 48' 6 1/4" in the weight throw while tossing 48' 4" in the shot put.

Daniel Benton and Jon Caron finished 1-2 in the 400-meter dash, both hitting the provisional qualifying standard in the process. Benton completed the two lap race in 48.96 while Caron clocked a 49.82. The duo later combined with Jon Howard and Randal Ellison to win the 4x400-meter relay in 3:24.27.

Zachariah Heerspink was the third multiple event winner for the Cardinals on Friday, showing his versatility by winning both the long jump and high jump. Heerspink leaped 22' 7 1/4" in the long jump before clearing 6' 6 3/4" in the high jump, edging out teammate Andrew Carlson, who placed second after clearing 6' 4 3/4".

Peter Geraghty won the pole vault, helping North Central secure the top three spots. Geraghty cleared an automatic qualifying height of 16' 8 3/4" to win the event while Thomas Stacey was second with a provisional qualifying clearance of 16' 0 3/4". Frank Wleklinski completed the sweep of the top three spots by clearing 15' 1".

Michael Spain obliterated the field in the 3,000-meter run, clocking a 8:28.64 as the Cardinals tallied a 1-2-3 finish. Timothy Hird finished runner-up in 8:57.64 edging teammate Richard McNichols by 0.27 seconds.

The distance medley relay squad of John Crain, Josh Garrett, Mitchell Gilbert and Daniel Kerley kicked off the meet by winning the event in 10:47.19.

The Cardinals received second place finishes from Nicholas Baumgartner in the 60-meter hurdles (8.68), Emilio Saraga in the 5,000-meters (16:01.14), Scott Foley in the 800-meters (1:57.42), Jon Howard in the 200-meters (22.89) and the 4x400-meter relay "B" team (3:26.50) while getting third-place showings from Nick Galanes in the 60-meter hurdles (8.74), Matthew Mazzoni in the 5,000-meters (16:14.24), Matthew Brinkmeier in the mile (4:19.63) and Donald Smith in the 200-meters (23.20).

The Cardinals return to action on Friday, Feb. 25, traveling to Bloomington, Ill. for day one of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Indoor Championships where North Central will look to claim its 11-straight conference title.