|
Scots will rely on depth at conference meet
Release Date: October 27, 2009
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
When the cross country team runs at the Midwest Conference
Championships on Saturday, they’ll hope their depth and a little
good timing results in a high team finish.
The Fighting Scots’ women enter the meet at Rock Cut State Park
near Rockford as the defending champions with five all-conference
runners returning. The men are trying to improve on their
back-to-back third-place finishes after winning the team title in
2006.
The meet, hosted by Beloit College, will begin at 11 a.m. and
will be run on a trail-type course – 6K for the women and 8K for the
men. The narrow, winding layout through heavy timber with moderate
hills means those runners wanting to keep track of their opponents
had better not let them get too far ahead and can’t expect a lot of
room to pass if it gets congested.
“It will be easy to lose track of where you are in the race if
you’re not really focused,” said coach Roger Haynes. “We
really don’t try to pack race as a team. Normally, we try to run our
own type of race and let the chips fall where they may. On this
course, if you get 20 meters separation from someone, you might not
see them again for a long time. For this course, we’ll try to pair
up with two or three runners from other teams.”
Of those runners from other teams, Megan O’Grady of Carroll and
Jenny Scherer of St. Norbert have the top 6K times among the women.
The Scots’ Mary Kate Beyer and Katie Staab are ranked
third and fourth, less than 90 seconds back of league-leader
O’Grady.
Monmouth’s women return the entire squad that won the first title
in their history last year and have added some newcomers who should
have an impact. The Scots own four of the top 20 spots (only the top
20 at the meet are named all-conference) in the latest top
performances list. Freshman Rachel Bowden is ranked 15th and
senior Amy Aghababian – all-conference a year ago – has the
MWC’s 19th-best time.
Carroll, St. Norbert and Grinnell appear to be the main
contenders to dethrone the Scots. Combined, the three teams have
garnered 12 of the top 20 times. Of course, the Scots ran a “perfect
storm” race last season when all their women were at their peak
performance.
“I’m not counting on it, but it could happen again,” said Haynes.
“Mary Kate and Katie are running well, and Rachel has a great shot
at a top 20 finish. She’s a pretty courageous runner for having so
little experience in cross country.”
Another freshman – Brittney Frazier – along with
all-conference junior Whitney Didier have posted times that
will threaten the top 20. That team depth may be just enough for a
high finish.
Like the women, the men have a clear-cut top two runners.
Geoff Bird and Jon Welty have consistently led the Scots
this season and have the fifth- and sixth-best MWC times. Last
year’s champion, Grinnell, owns the top four spots.
“We don’t have that one really fast runner,”
reported Haynes of his men’s team. “We’ve got a couple of very good
runners up front and then a lot of team depth after that.”
There is strength in numbers and Monmouth isn’t
lagging far behind the front runners with six runners in the top 20
and in contention for all-conference honors. Senior Damon
Bautista has seen limited competition this fall but ran his best
race just two weeks ago and has the league’s 14th-best time. A trio
of freshmen – Jake Barr, Connor Shields and Paul
Davies – are also in the mix. Barr is ranked 12th, Shields 15th
and Davies 18th. Veterans Alan Rosiquez, Craig Maher
and Tim Bentz are among Haynes’ deep stable of contenders
anxious for Saturday’s competition.
“The guys are focused and ready for the
weekend,” praised Haynes. “They’ll be very aggressive and go out and
challenge the other runners. We have a lot of guys who have a top 20
spot in their sights.”
Last year, the women aligned the planets to
take the team title with a pair of bona fide lead runners and a
solid supporting cast. Monmouth’s men hope to use that recipe from a
year ago to cook up a top three finish.
Men's Cross Country |
Women's Cross Country
|
