FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Event-by-Event Results
DELAWARE, Ohio (May 27, 2011) - The North Central College men's track and field team crowned an individual national champion for the second straight day at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships on Friday, as Peter Geraghty led an 18-point effort in the pole vault for the Cardinals at Ohio Wesleyan University's Selby Stadium.
Geraghty cleared an outdoor personal-best height of 17 feet, 3 inches to give North Central an outdoor pole vault champion for the second straight season, keeping the Cardinals in front in the team competition as well.
Geraghty passed on the first three heights in the competition, electing to come in at 16'3 1/4" for his first attempt of the evening. He missed his first attempt, but cleared the second to get on the board.
"Part of it was timing," Geraghty said of his decision regarding when to begin competing. "I wanted some warmup jumps, and I knew that after an hour had gone by I was entitled to two minutes for warmups. I got my steps consistent and went into the competition."
He cleared 16'7 1/4" on his first attempt, then went to the third attempt at 16'11" before becoming one of just three vaulters to clear the bar. The winning height of 17'3" was cleared on Geraghty's second attempt, and neither of the other competitors at that height, McMurry University's Stephen Toler and the University of Wisconsin-Stout's Daniel Drewek, were able to match the North Central sophomore.
"For the most part I just felt very alert, very focused and really relaxed," Geraghty said. "That's what I was aiming to do. I didn't want to come in and try to accomplish something I had never done before. I just wanted to perform and do what I knew I could do."
Joining Geraghty on the All-America podium were teammates Josh Winder and John Wood. After clearing 16'7 1/4" without a missed attempt in the competition, Winder landed awkwardly following a missed attempt at 16'11" and came up with an apparent injury to his left ankle. Winder passed his next two attempts at the height and made an attempt at 17'3", but bowed out of the competition shortly thereafter and wound up finishing fourth. Wood, who also cleared 16'7 1/4", finished sixth to earn his third All-America certificate.
The 18 points garnered by the Cardinals in the vault kept North Central in front in the team competition with 32 points. Central College (Iowa) is currently second with 24 points, followed by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Washington University (Mo.) and California Lutheran University, each of which have 20.
Also contested on Friday were the preliminary heats of the 400-meter dash. North Central's Daniel Benton was the fastest qualifier for Saturday's final, touring the track in 47.45 seconds. The Cardinals' Jon Howard also took part in the 400, finishing in 48.98 to rank 14th among the 19 competitors.
North Central's Joe Schneiderbauer finished 14th in the decathlon (6,144 points), while Zachariah Heerspink finished 18th in the high jump (6'5").
The championships conclude on Saturday, with North Central owning the top-seeded entries in the 400-meter dash, 5,000-meter run and 4x400-meter relay. Competition is set to begin at noon Eastern time.
