Category: College Sports Highlights

New Cardinals’ men’s track and field era kicks off with indoor season In addition to creating a vacancy leading the men’s cross country team, the retirements of first Al Carius and then Frank Gramarosso necessitated new leadership for the men’s track and field team as well. While cross country is now led by longtime assistant…

North Central Women’s Basketball Seniors Return, Some for a Fifth Season A year ago, fifth year seniors Mitrese Smith and Allison Pearson weren’t sure if they’d have the opportunity to play one final year of college basketball. But once they had the green light, there was no question that they wanted to go all in…

A variety of motivations for NCC Men’s Basketball seniors in their final seasons For the seniors of North Central men’s basketball, there were a variety of motivations in their final collegiate season: family, brotherhood, aspirations of success, and in one specific case the opportunity to top off a four year college football career with a…

North Central Swimming pushes off the bottom of the pool “I just absolutely love the sport,” said Ben Laurich, a senior on North Central’s men’s swimming and diving team. “It’s just something that has just been a huge, huge part of my life. And coming here and going through the variety of different coaching changes,…

North Central Women’s Cross Country plan for the long term Having gone seven years without a CCIW championship, coming out of two seasons affected by a pandemic, and with a very young roster, the 2022 season presented a perfect opportunity for North Central Women’s Cross Country to reset, look long term, and work to take…

North Central men’s cross country enters a new era “It was pretty emotional,” said first-year head men’s cross country coach coach Matt Sinnott, upon hearing the news that legendary coaches Al Carius and Frank Gramarosso would be retiring. “I wasn’t even thinking about what’s going to happen to me. But it was very emotional because…

North Central women’s soccer look to go one game further than last year Last season, the North Central women’s soccer team came agonizingly close to their first ever NCAA Division III Women’s Soccer Tournament appearance, falling 2-0 to Wheaton in the CCIW Tournament championship game. This year, the goal was to learn from that experience…

North Central Men’s Soccer looks to improve on their best Coming off their best season in program history, the North Central men’s soccer team was not at all complacent heading into their 2022 campaign. For them, this year was all about going above and beyond the new heights of last year. “Last year with the…

Cardinals Triathlon hits the reset button For the first time since their inaugural season, North Central triathlon did not enter this year as defending national champions. Last year was certainly not a failure, with then-freshman Hailey Poe winning the individual national championship and the team still finishing third, but being knocked off their perch certainly…

North Central women’s volleyball puts the past behind them for a new season Last season didn’t go to plan for Cardinals women’s volleyball. They lost their final six conference matches, missing out on the CCIW conference tournament altogether. But the moment that final match ended, their only focus was on the road ahead and the…

A North Central Track and Field Legend Retires The story of any North Central men’s track and field season is usually first and foremost the quest for a conference championship and to qualify as many athletes for nationals as possible. But there was a different headline this time, as Frank Gramarossso announced his retirement ahead…

Business as Usual for Cardinals Track and Field Coming off a third straight CCIW indoor title, the Cardinals women’s track and field team hoped to, as usual, not only pick up where they left off but further improve in the outdoor season and secure their third consecutive spring championship as well. “We always tell the…