USTFCCCA Release

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- North Central's Dhruvil Patel and Wheaton's Favor Ezewuzie were named United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Midwest Region Male and Female Track Athletes of the Year, respectively, this week.

Patel, a senior from Skokie, Illinois and Niles North High School, will represent North Central as the top seed in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs at this weekend's NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Geneva, Ohio. He set a new Division III record time of 13:51.40 in the 5,000 on April 19 at the Stanford Classic, and he clocked a time of 28:50.87 in the 10,000 on March 29, also at Stanford. This time ranks him third on the all-time Division III list and is more than 50 seconds faster than any other Divison III competitor this season. Patel is a four-time individual national champion  (2018 indoor 5,000, outdoor 10,000 and cross country; 2019 indoor 5,000) and a 10-time all-American.

Ezewuzie, a junior from Malden, Massachusetts and Covenant Christian Academy, acheived a school-record time of 11.96 in the 100-meter dash at the Augustana Twilight on May 16, which was the fourth-fastest time in NCAA Division III this year. Her time of 24.63 in the 200-meter dash, also at the Augustana Twilight, was the ninth-fast in Division III, while her national qualifying effort in the 100-meter hurdles was a time of 14.41-seconds at the Augustana meet. She will represent the Thunder in the 100, 200, 100 hurdles and 4x100-meter relay at this weekend's NCAA Championship. 

Also this week, Carthage's Greg Raimondi was named the Midwest Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year following his third season with the Lady Reds program. Raimondi will coach both Sarah Schmidt and Elizabeth Willis at this weekend's NCAA Championship as both qualified for the shot put, discus and hammer events.  
The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), 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 2017-18 academic year, the CCIW honored over 2,100 academic all-conference recipients, 15 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 28 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients, and over 100 all-Americans.