NAPERVILLE, Ill. – North Central’s John Crain was named the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week Tuesday.

Crain, a junior from Dunlap, Illinois and Dunlap High School (Sociology-Criminal Justice major), helped the Cardinals win the team title at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championship on Friday at the D.A. Weibring Golf Course in Normal, Illinois. His time of 24:28 was good enough for third place as North Central tied with Loyola University of Chicago with 62 points for the team title. The Cardinals won the tiebreaker because their No. 6 runner, Mitch Gilbert, finished better than Loyola’s sixth runner. The victory is the Cardinals' third team title at the statewide meet in the past four seasons.

2012 CCIW Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week
John Crain – North Central (9/18/12)
Tim Hird – North Central (9/11/12)
Jake Mahaffey – Carthage (9/11/12)
John Crain – North Central (9/5/12)


The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services eight member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2011-12 academic year, the CCIW honored 1,323 academic all-conference recipients, 16 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 1 CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year, 89 all-Americans and three national championship teams.