NAPERVILLE, Ill. – North Central’s John Crain earned his second College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week honor on Tuesday.

Crain, a senior from Dunlap, Illinois and Dunlap High School (Sociology major), won the individual title in the Gold Division at the University of Notre Dame Invitational on Friday. He won the 8K with a time of 25:15.2, 20 seconds ahead of runner-up Alan Peterson of NCAA Division II Grand Valley State. Crain was the first North Central runner to win an individual title at Notre Dame since three-time all-American Michael Spain in 2010. The Cardinals finished second as a team behind Grand Valley State in the 23-team field.

2013 CCIW Men's Cross Country Athletes of the Week
John Crain – North Central (10/8/13)
Brent Gaither – North Central (10/1/13)
Aron Sebhat – North Central (9/24/13)
Will Cross – Elmhurst (9/17/13)
John Crain – North Central (9/10/13)
Mark Giannis – Illinois Wesleyan (9/4/13)

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 2012-13 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,400 academic all-conference recipients, 15 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-Americans, 30 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients, 68 all-Americans and one national championship team.