NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- North Central's Dhruvil Patel recently earned a pair of national awards as the senior was named the 2019 National Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year and the Outstanding Track Performer for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

A native of Skokie, Illinois and Niles North High School, Patel won his fifth and sixth individual national titles at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championship, claiming first place in both the 5,000-meter run (14:40.86) and 10,000-meter run (30:14.05). He was the only athlete at this year's men's championship to win multiple titles. 

Patel is the first Cardinal to be named the Outstanding Performer at the outdoor championship since the award's introduction in 2015. Winners are determined using a formula that takes into account team points scored, plus meet records (five additional points), Division III season bests (three additional points) and facility records (one point). Relay points, if applicable, are split equally between the four team members. He shared the award for the 2019 indoor season.

Additionally, Patel is the fifth North Central student-athlete to win the USTFCCCA's National Athlete of the Year award in outdoor track & field, joining pole vaulter Luke Winder's Field Athlete of the Year awards in 2016 and 2017, along with distance runners Michael Spain (2011) and Dan Mayer (1994). Spain was the Track Athlete of the Year, while Mayer was named National Athlete of the Year before the award was split into separate honors for track and field events. Patel was also named the National Athlete of the Year following the 2018 cross country season and the 2019 indoor track and field season, making him the only men's athlete in Division III history to win all three awards in the same academic year.
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.