FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships Qualifiers
May 22, 2011 - The North Central College men's track and field team will open defense of its NCAA Division III Outdoor Championship with a total of 13 entries in seven events, according to the official list of qualifiers released Sunday.
The second-ranked Cardinals own the top qualifying mark in three events. Michael Spain enters the championships as the fastest qualifier in the 5,000- (14:15.79) and 10,000-meter runs (29:37.82), while the 4x400-meter relay quartet of Jonathan Caron, Randal Ellison, Jon Howard and Daniel Benton owns the nation's top time at 3:10.66.
Benton and Howard will also compete individually in the 400-meter dash, qualifying second (47.06) and 13th (48.11), respectively. Spain will be joined in the 10,000 by Dan Kerley (ninth, 30:14.23) and Neal Klein (10th, 30:15.24).
For the second straight season, North Central has four qualifiers in the pole vault. Josh Winder is the second overall qualifier (17 feet, 1 1/2 inches), while Peter Geraghty is fourth (16'11 1/2"), John Wood is eighth (16'3 1/2") and Thomas Stacey is 15th (16'0 3/4").
Zachariah Heerspink has qualified ninth in the high jump (6'9") and Joe Schneiderbauer is the 14th overall qualifier in the decathlon (6,250 points).
The Cardinals will be chasing their second straight Division III outdoor title and the fourth national track and field title overall.
This year's outdoor national championships will be contested at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, May 26-28. More information about the championships can be found at http://www.ncaa.com/championships/trackfield-outdoor-men/d3.
