FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Official Championship Site
Day One Results

GREENCASTLE, Ind. (Mar. 11, 2010)-- North Central College holds the early lead in the team standings after day one of competition at the NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field National Championships, claiming one national champion, five All-Americans and getting two qualifiers to the finals on Saturday at the James A. Hollensteiner Track.

The Cardinals accumulated 23.3 points through day one to lead the team tally. Trinity University (Texas) sits in second with 18 points followed closely by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (15.5 points) and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (12 points).

North Central got it started early, scoring 20.3 of its points in the pole vault  with Jake Winder needing just two vaults to claim his second straight National Title.

Winder entered the competition at 16'5 1/2" after the field of 12 was whittled down to just seven athletes. The senior cleared the height on his first attempt and was the only athlete to clear 16'9 1/2", earning his second indoor National Title and his third indoor All-American honor.

Also finishing as All-Americans were Thomas Stacey, John Wood and Peter Geraghty, placing third, fifth and eighth respectively. Stacey missed his first attempt at opening height before soaring over the next two heights on his first try. The freshman cleared 16'5 1/2" on his second attempt, placing third on the tiebreaker. Wood earned All-American honors at the Indoor Championships for the second straight season, after vaulting 16'1 3/4", finishing fifth. Geraghty rounded out the Cardinal contingent in the vault, clearing 15'7 3/4", finishing in a three-way tie for eighth place with no misses.

Matt Borchardt became the Cardinals' fifth All-American on the afternoon, placing sixth in the pentathlon, scoring 3,545 points. The junior was sitting in eighth place after three events, before finishing strong netting 740 points in the high jump before closing out the competition by winning the 1,000-meters in 2:46.65, scoring 801 points. Teammate Joe Schneiderbauer placed 10th, scoring 3,426 points. Sitting in 12th place with one event to go, Schneiderbauer pushed the pace early in the 1,000-meters, holding the lead up until the final meters, crossing the finish line a split-second behind Borchardt in 2:46.90.

"Joe and I are very different individuals but we work well together and are good friends. He helped me pace and finish out the 1,000," said Borchardt.

Dan Benton heads into Saturday with the second fastest qualifying time in the 400-meter dash, clocking a season-best time of 48.53 in the preliminaries. The junior's time was just two-thousandths of a second shy of winning his heat after mounting a final charge down the homestretch to nearly catch University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh's Ben Zill.

Jacob Austin's road to Saturday's finals was a bit more difficult, snagging the eighth and final qualifying spot in the 800-meter run. The senior led from the start until Gustavus Adolphus College's Max Hanson made a move with 100-meters left to claim the lead while the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's Aron Kehoe nudged out Austin at the finish line to claim the second automatic qualifying spot. Austin's time of 1:54.15 held up against the second heat for the final qualifying spot.

Robert Kapustka recorded a 13th place showing in the weight throw with a toss of 56'4 1/2", to round out the Cardinal day one competitors.

Competition resumes tomorrow at 9 a.m. (Eastern Time) with the first Cardinal in action at 1 p.m.