Crystal Lake's Youel wins Man of the Year honors

North Central College wrestler Ben Youel of Crystal Lake was named the 2009 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Man of the Year on Monday.

Youel was chosen through a voting process conducted by the CCIW senior administrators and faculty athletics representatives. He was part of a group of four other nominees including Illinois Wesleyan's Matas Cyvas (soccer), Elmhurst's Matt D'Angelo (football), North Park's Isaac Lee (soccer), and Wheaton's Kent Raymond (basketball).

Youel, a chemistry major (3.945 GPA) from Crystal Lake Central High School, is a two-time NCAA Division III wrestling all-American (2008 & 2009) and two-time CCIW champion (2007 & 2009). He helped lead his team to a conference title in each of the last two seasons and was named North Central's Most Valuable Wrestler in 2009.

He was recently named an academic all-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and was a three-time winner of the Jack Swartz Academic All-Conference award named for the former Wheaton College athletics director. In addition, Youel was named an Outstanding Chemistry Major in 2009.

Youel is also active in the Naperville community, volunteering with Relay For Life and the Special Olympics. He also assisted in the drafting of North Central's five-year strategic plan and also took part in a reading program that assisted students who were learning to speak English as a second language.

The CCIW Man of the Year award was established in 2008 to recognize the conference's top male student-athlete, similar to the NCAA's recognition of its top female student-athlete, which the CCIW participates in by submitting one female nominee at the end of each academic year. Both the Man of the Year and Woman of the Year are honored with plaques by the CCIW.