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Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

North Central Fall 2009 Academic All-CCIW Selections

Jan. 21, 2010 - North Central College recently announced its winners of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Jack Swartz Academic All-Conference Awards for fall 2009, as well as its 84 Academic All-CCIW honorees for the fall season. North Central's Jack Swartz honorees, both prime examples of the NCAA Division III philosophy of embracing a well-rounded collegiate experience, are senior women's cross country runner Amanda Laesch and senior football player Dominic Sulo.

The Jack Swartz Award, named after the former Wheaton College tennis coach and athletic director and CCIW Commissioner, honors one male and one female individual from each of the eight CCIW institutions each season for combining academic and athletic excellence.

Laesch, an international business major from Wheaton, Ill., earned All-CCIW honors and qualified as an individual for her second Division III National Championship meet this fall, while also leading the Cardinals to a CCIW Team Championship.

Laesch's first experience competing at the national championships came as a freshman, during a year when she also broke the North Central school record, qualified for the Indoor Track and Field National Championships and placed ninth at the USA Track and Field Junior Nationals at 5,000 meters and was named the CCIW Track & Field Freshman of the Year.

A bout of mononucleosis during the fall of Laesch's sophomore year curtailed her running and led her to choose that time to study abroad in Seville, Spain, which turned out to be a defining experience in her collegiate education.

“I was pulled out of athletics, after so much of my focus had been on it, and I got exposed to other things,” she said. “I don't think I would be the same person if I hadn't studied abroad. It brought me back to being more settled in myself, and I got excited about getting back here and running again.
“I got to travel a ton, I got to learn a lot about myself, and make new friends that I still have. It was an amazing experience.”

Upon her return to campus, Laesch continued to experience setbacks due to injuries, which led to an improvised training regimen heading into this past season.

“I broke my arm when I was in Spain, so I had to stop running again,” she says. “I didn't know if I'd be able to compete this year because I developed two fractures in my pelvis last year during the regional meet. I couldn't run last winter or spring, so I swam, and coming into this summer I was still cross-training. It was difficult, but it was neat to see how the swimming helped me, so I kept that up during the season.”

Teammate Lauren Hooks and Laesch placed 19th and 20th, respectively, at the Midwest Regional Championships to punch tickets to the national meet, which came as a surprise to both.

“We never thought about qualifying individually,” Laesch said. “After swimming so much, I didn't think it was going to happen. We were just thinking about the team and taking one step at a time.”

Now completely healthy again and having come to embrace a balance between different facets of collegiate life, Laesch's focus moves to the upcoming track and field campaign and a future that may include work with a multicultural nonprofit agency.

“I want to break some of my old personal records,” she says. “There are all these goals that are out there, but I'm just going to take each day as it comes and keep training. I've come to love balancing all my different responsibilities and being able to make them work. Running can't be my entire life, but it's part of it. For some reason, I've been given these talents, and I'm going to use them.”

Sulo, of Oak Forest, Ill., meanwhile, wrapped up a four-year career on the gridiron this fall that saw him emerge as the school record holder in points (284) and touchdowns (47) and rank second all-time in rushing yards (3,697). A three-time First Team All-CCIW and All-North Region selection, he is the first North Central player to rush for at least 1,000 yards in three straight seasons. Sulo has helped lead the Cardinals to four straight CCIW Championships and three Division III playoff appearances.

As Sulo's athletic career developed, so has his involvement in marketing projects that have supplemented his coursework. He participated in a summer research project with Assistant Professor of Marketing Brian Hanlon after his freshman year, and returned to do the same each summer thereafter.

“We've been doing marketing research projects, focusing on real estate development,” Sulo said. “That's what I'm interested in, commercial real estate developing. The company we've been helping out is based in London, so a lot of the projects we've been doing have been based in Europe. We've also done some work domestically, with a development in North Carolina, and we're working on one in Iowa right now. We're all over the place.”

Combining academic pursuits with the time-consuming task of being a four-year starter on one of the top Division III football teams in the nation proved a daunting proposition for Sulo at first, but he credits his ambitions in the classroom as a key to his athletic success.

“My freshman year, it was tough,” he recalled. “The great thing about the football program is they developed the study hall program. After my sophomore year, I got to the point where I didn't have to do study hall hours anymore because I was motivated to do it on my own. My attitude was, 'I have to do this, I have to be on top of it, I have to be on the field for my teammates, myself, and my family.'

“There are so many real-world things that relate to sports. You have to manage your time, plan out your days and make sure you get your stuff done. We have a set plan each day for practice, and that's the same thing you should do throughout your day even when you're not involved in sports. That's what gives me the confidence to know that if I'm successful in the classroom, I'll be successful on the football field. A lot of people think it's the other way around, but that's not the case.”

Sulo also credits the accessible nature of the faculty at the College with helping shape his plans for the future.

“The great thing about a small school is that I can develop relationships with my professors,” he said. “That's been a huge advantage for me, talking to professors, finding out about alumni who are in my field and networking with them. Getting to know your professors, staying on top of your responsibilities, making sure you're doing well in classes, it all pays off in the end.”

The CCIW will announce all of its fall Academic All-CCIW honorees in March.