Results

The Carthage College men's track and field team (51-11 indoor record), ranked 19th in the Feb. 26 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division III poll, finished second at the Friday-Saturday, Feb. 28-March 1 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Indoor Track and Field Championship at the Illinois Wesleyan University Shirk Center Fieldhouse in Bloomington, Ill.
 
North Central College won its 14th league title with 208.50 points, followed by Carthage second at 160,  Augustana College (Ill.) third at 135, Illinois Wesleyan fourth at 61.50, Wheaton College (Ill.) fifth at 48, Millikin University sixth at 25, Elmhurst College seventh at 17th and North Park University eighth with eight points.
 
Carthage's Derrik Guyette (Jr., Hortonville, Wis.) won both weight throw (57-3 ½) and the shot put (53-3 ¾) and was named "field athlete of the meet."  Darin Ward (Fr., Fond du Lac, Wis./St. Mary's Springs) won the long jump (22-4 ½), finished second in the triple jump (46-2 ¾) and fifth in the 60-meter hurdles (8.63).  The Red Men also collected wins from Trevor James (Sr., Maywood, Ill./Chicago-Hope Academy) in the high jump (6-9 ½) and Calvin Callahan (Jr., Bedford, Ind./North Lawrence) in the pole vault (Carthage-record 15-5). 

Reggie Miller (Sr., Downers Grove, Ill./South) was second in the long jump (21-9 ½), as was David Goodalis (So., Naperville, Ill./Central) in the weight throw (56-2), Mark Balmes (So., Mount Prospect, Ill./Arlington Heights-Hersey) in the shot put (52-1) and Mike Brown (Jr., St. Charles, Ill./East) in the 60-meter dash (7.11).  Quenten Austin (So., Vandalia, Ill./Community) finished third in the heptathlon (3,396 points).  The Carthage coaching staff also won the "staff of the year" award.

"A second place finish at this meet was something we talked about since the first day of practice," said Carthage coach Brett Witt.  "It had been a decade since someone new had broken into the top-two places at the CCIW championship, and we wanted to be the team to do it.  It was a complete team effort, we had five conference champions, five runner-up finishes, and we scored in every event but two.  We arrived at the meet with 55 athletes and four coaches all with the same goal, the goal we had been working for, some since as far back as September, and that was to finish in the top two and that's just what we did."
 
"In addition to the second-place finish," continued Witt, "the highlight of the weekend for me was a when a young lady from another team came up to me after the meet and said, 'Coach, I just wanted to let you know that if a spirit award was given out your team would have won it because they were really into the meet and supportive of their teammates.'  That, in a nutshell, describes what I want our team to be and who we are."