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Scots defend Midwest Conference titles
Release Date:
May 11, 2009
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
When the dust settled Saturday afternoon at the Midwest
Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Waukesha, Wis.,
the Monmouth College men had claimed their ninth consecutive
conference title and the women their fifth straight.
Strong performances in the women’s field events Friday set the
stage for the Fighting Scots’ women to run away from the pack on
Saturday. The women easily outdistanced runnerup Carroll University
254-172. Monmouth’s men were in second after Friday’s first round,
but sprinted past second-place Illinois College for the title
194-145.
The women picked up two individual titles as they swept the top
three spots in the discus and the top two in the hammer throw
Friday. NCAA qualifier Tanesha Hughes flung the discus a meet
record 161’3” to outdistance teammates Gloria Lehr and
Allison Renfro in second and third. Lehr got the better of her
teammate in the hammer throw where she won with a mark of 153’4”,
easing by Amanda Streeter in second and Hughes in fourth.
Hughes and Lehr placed 2-3 in the shot put. Lehr also placed second
in the javelin and Brittany McCline was fourth.
Shannon Turczyn not only won the 100-meter hurdles, she
also automatically qualified for next week’s NCAA Outdoor
Championships with the fifth-fastest time in the nation. The senior
broke the tape with a conference-record time of 14.29. She finished
her career unbeaten in the sprint hurdles, winning the MWC title all
four years in the 55-meter hurdles indoors and the 100-meter hurdles
outdoors. Classmate Katie Vaccarello was fourth. The tandem
finished 2-3 in the 400-hurdles. Turczyn ran a lifetime-best 1:06.01
to clip Vaccarello for second by just over three-tenths of a second.
Jae Moore and Brittany Lowdermilk made the awards
stand with a 1-2 finish in the 100-dash. Moore took first, running a
12.71, just three one-hundredths ahead of Lowdermilk. Moore also
placed second in the 200 and Lowdermilk was fourth.
Mary Kate Beyer set the new school and conference standard
in the steeplechase. The sophomore took first with a
provisional-qualifying time of 10:56.60. The time ranks her in the
top 20 nationally.
Megan McKenna took second in three field events. The
senior was runnerup in the triple jump, long jump and pole vault.
Other seconds came from Beyer who ran a lifetime-best 40:33.52 in
the 10,000-meter run, Heather Hull in the high jump with a
personal-best 5’3-1/4”. Beyer also took third in the 5,000 run.
McKenna, Turczyn, Lowdermilk and Moore added second-place
hardware in the 4x100 relay, finishing just a half-second behind
Carroll. Vaccarello, Moore, Turczyn and Lindsie Pettie
duplicated the runnerup finish in the 4x400.
A pair of personal-bests were recorded in the 800 run by Pettie
and Katie Staab. Pettie took second with a PR of 2:21.51 and
Staab’s 2:23.05 was her career’s fastest in the event.
Dan Higgins was the lone man to win a conference title
after Day 1 of the competition, but the Scots were in position to
make a run on the final day with a flurry of firsts and key scoring
performances. Higgins successfully defended his title in the javelin
Friday with a throw of 193’9” to improve his provisional-qualifying
mark.
The Scots picked up more field event points when Peyton Lumzy
took first in the discus with a mark of 141’10” to add to a
second in the hammer throw and a third in the shot put. Sam
Cokinos edged Lumzy in the shot, placing second. He was third in
the discus. Tyler Hannam captured his first MWC title,
winning the high jump at 6’6-3/4”.
Logan Hohl bounced back from a second-place finish in the
100-meter hurdles to take first in the 400-hurdles. He broke the
tape in a provisional-qualifying and personal-best time of 53.03,
moving him to eighth on the national list.
The Scots ran a provisional time and set a conference record
while winning the 4x100 relay. Shane Reschke, Aaron
Daverin, Kyle Prout and Saidu Sesay clocked a
41.74 to win the event by nearly two-tenths of a second. Reschke,
who picked up two relay firsts, was joined by Hohl, Ryan Hardman
and Jake Stott in winning the 4x400. The quartet broke the
tape in 3:19.56, winning by nearly four seconds.
The relay team members were also busy as
individuals. Stott led a 2-3-4 finish in the 400 as he led Reschke
and Hardman across the finish line. Sesay took fourth in the 200.
A personal-best in the triple jump earned
Nick Wright a trip to the awards stand in the triple jump. The
junior sailed 45’6-1/2” to edge past Sean Wells in fourth.
Damon Bautista ran to a second-place
finish in the 1500. His time of 4:02.54 was just over a half-second
off the pace. The Scots added needed points with fourth place
finishes from Tim Bentz in the 800 run and Jeremy Henkins
in the pole vault.
Not all of the awards went to the athletes.
Coach Roger Haynes captured his second straight Outdoor
Women’s Coach of the Year award as the Monmouth women had four
athletes selected as the meet’s Most Outstanding Performers. Lehr
and Hughes shared the award in the field events and Turczyn and
Beyer were honored in the running events. A pair of Fighting Scots
men also receive the Outstanding Performer award: Lumzy (field) and
Hohl (track).
The Scots have last chance qualifying meets
this week prior to next week’s National Championships in Marietta,
Ohio. Two women have automatically qualified for the meet – Hughes
(discus) and Turczyn (100-meter hurdles). Hughes is also a
provisional qualifier in the shot put while Lehr has made
provisional marks in the shot, discus and hammer throw. McKenna and
Beyer are provisional in the pole vault and steeplechase,
respectively.
On the men’s side, Hohl has provisional efforts
in both hurdle events. Hannam and Higgins each made provisional
marks in the high jump and javelin, respectively. Monmouth’s 4x100
relay is a provisional qualifier with their effort last weekend.
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