GORSKI A NATIONAL FINALIST

Senior Melissa Gorski (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) has been named a finalist for the prestigious Jostens Trophy, sponsored by the Salem (Va.) Rotary Club and given annually to the top NCAA Division III men’s and women’s basketball players.

The Jostens Trophy awards the men’s and women’s Player of the Year based on academic excellence and community/campus service as well as athletic performance. Only 10 women and 10 men are named finalists for the award. The winners will be announced March 9, and the official presentation will occur in conjunction with the Men’s Division III Championship in Salem, Va., on March 19.

Gorski ended her playing career with 1,273 points, making her the Fighting Scots’ fourth-leading scorer all-time in the women’s program and her 312 career assists ranks her third. She was second on the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 16.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Gorski compiled a 13.8 career scoring average and a 6.1 rebound average. The Scots completed a 14-9 season, finishing with the second-most wins in school history.

An English major, Gorski has been named to the ESPN the Magazine All-Academic District V first team. She was named to the Monmouth College Dean’s List seven times and is a two-time Midwest Conference All-Academic selection.

Among her community service work, Gorski has done volunteer work for Special Olympics, Relay for Life and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. She also serves as a tutor at the local schools and is a member of the Kappa Delta Pi Literacy Alive program.

Other women’s finalists are: Melanie Auguste, Colorado College; LeighAnn Burke, DeSales University; Amanda Hiltunen, Randolph-Macon College; Hillary Klimowicz, The College of New Jersey; Sarah Meisenberg, Franklin & Marshall College; Margo Muhlbauer, Buena Vista University; Megan Scheele, Edgewood College; Claire Sheehan, Illinois Wesleyan University; and Keli Ward, York College.

A PUZZLING DEVELOPMENT

For the past 26 years, track coach Roger Haynes has been a master at putting together Midwest Conference championships – a combined 48 men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor titles.

Like solving a jigsaw puzzle, Haynes has put the right pieces together to win a league-record nine straight men’s and seven consecutive women’s indoor titles. The Fighting Scots will enter this weekend’s MWC Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Huff Athletic Center at Monmouth College with eight defending champions on the men’s side and three for the women. Add to that a total of 82 performances that rank in the top 10 of the league and the Scots appear to be set to successfully defend their string of league crowns. Ever the cautious competitor, Haynes still has questions.

“We’ve got to figure out how to move the pieces around to give us the best chance at winning the meet,” said Haynes. “We haven’t filled in the pieces quite as well as we should have. We have some gaps in the women’s sprint races. The field events aren’t quite as solid across the board as we’d like them to be.”

Haynes can take some comfort in knowing his team has the top-ranked performance in seven men’s events and three women’s.

Five-time All-American Luke Reschke is back for his senior campaign as the defending 400-meter dash champion, but it could be a photo finish, as the top five runners are within a second of Reschke’s top-ranked time (49.31). The good news for Monmouth is that Reschke’s teammates, Logan Hohl and Jacob Stott, are ranked 4-5 in the event. Carroll’s Josh Hurlebaus and St. Norbert’s Dann Schneider are ranked in between, which should make for an interesting contest.

“That should be a very good race,” predicted Haynes. “We could have six guys run provisional qualifying times in the 400. It could be an amazing race.”

Hohl, who has run a limited number of 55-meter hurdles races this season, has the top-ranked time in the event and enters as the defending MWC champ. He’ll be pressured by Robert Wood of Ripon and Justin Troeller from Carroll.

“Logan has made a big difference in the team aspect after coming back from an injury,” said Haynes. “He didn’t run hurdles outdoors, but has run very well in all of his races indoors. Jake (Stott) is another one who has helped us in the sprints and relays. He has gotten more and more valuable as his career has gone on.”

The Scots aren’t just good in the sprints. Damon Baustista won the 800 last season and has the league’s fastest time this season, but is just two seconds ahead of a pair of Grinnell runners – Noah DeLong and Kyle Lynch-Klarup. Another distance man, Clay Staley, logged the league’s top times in the mile, the 3K and the 5K. Staley won the mile and 3K last season.

Monmouth’s men are also defending champions in three relays – the distance medley relay, sprint medley relay and the 4x400, where they have the MWC’s top time (3:19.82).

In the field events, high jumper Tyler Hannam recorded the conference’s high mark (6’6-3/4), just in front of teammate Sean Wells. The pair could get a push from Illinois College’s Dillon Binkley. The Blueboys sophomore will make his season debut this weekend after finishing the basketball season. He used the same formula last season to win the conference high jump crown (6’7).

Monmouth’s Brock McAnally is the top-ranked pole vaulter by more than a foot (14’10-1/2). While not ranked in the top two, Sam Cokinos and Peyton Lumzy are within striking distance in the throws. Cokinos is ranked third in the shot put and fifth in the weight throw. Lumzy is third in the weight and fourth in the shot. Mike Blodgett and Nick Wright are ranked fifth and seventh in the long jump. Wright and Wells have the sixth and seventh-best marks in the triple jump, Blodgett and Ryan Hardman are nine and ten.

Others within striking distance of a title on the track include: Kyle Prout, ranked second in the 55-meter dash, just .02 seconds off Hurlebaus’ top time; and Geoff Bird and Scott Sheller in the 5K, ranked third and fourth.

The women could pick up major points in the throws, where they have 10 marks in the top 10. Defending shot put champion Gloria Lehr has the league’s best mark by more than two feet (43’4-1/4). Alison Renfroe and Tanesha Hughes, who is fresh off a successful basketball season, are ranked third and fourth. Amanda Streeter has the conference’s sixth-best throw and Maureen Dewan is ninth.

Streeter is ranked tops in the weight throw (48’11-3/4) by nearly eight inches over Lehr, who is second. It’s a Monmouth logjam after that. Hughes, Renfroe and Dewan are 4-5-6.

Shannon Turczyn has the top time in the 55-meter hurdles (8.37) by nearly a half second over St. Norbert’s Marisa Trakanovich. She enters her final indoor meet as the defending champion.

Jae Moore is ranked second in the triple jump, just five inches back of Ripon’s Trisha Jones (34’3). The Scots’ Morgan Leffel is the defending champion and is ranked fifth, between teammates Whitney Didier and Megan McKenna. Moore is also ranked second in the 55-meter dash, .04 seconds back of Marva Goodson of Lawrence.

Haynes hopes his women’s distance group can duplicate the success they had in winning the cross country title last fall.

Mary Kate Beyer is just 10 seconds off the MWC’s top time in the 3K, set by Carroll’s Megan O’Grady, who also has the top time in the mile. Beyer is ranked third in both the mile and the 5K. Katie Staab sits fourth in the 5K and fifth in both the mile and 3K races.

“The women’s distance races are going to be outstanding,” claimed Haynes. “St. Norbert and Carroll have some good distance people and our group is very strong. The sprints should be very competitive as well. Lawrence, Illinois College and Carroll have some excellent sprinters.”

McKenna leads a 2-3-4 Monmouth group in the pole vault. Didier has the third-best league mark and Erin Degelman competed for the first time this season last week and is ranked fourth. McKenna is also ranked third in the long jump. Sarah Stinson and Heather Hull could make noise in the high jump, where they have the conference’s fourth and fifth best heights.

With a history of success and so many highly-ranked performances, Haynes still isn’t ready to take the conference trophy just yet.

“We’re going to be in a tight race,” warned Haynes, who expects strong challenges on the men’s side from Illinois College, Carroll and St. Norbert. He also predicts Carroll and St. Norbert to be strong competitors for the women.

“We’ll have to bounce back and pull out some unexpected performances if we expect to do well,” said Haynes. “Grinnell always has strong distance people, so a lot of it will be teams taking advantage in some gaps where other teams aren’t quite as strong. Our mission is still the same – we’re interested in each entry and each person doing as well as they have all season. That’s what makes the meet a success, not the team totals.”

Don’t get Haynes wrong, he’ll still make room for another couple of conference team trophies if they happen his way.

CLOSE, BUT…

Melissa Bittner’s women’s basketball team came as close to making the four-team Midwest Conference tournament as you could get without getting in the door.

When Illinois College dropped Lake Forest and the Scots downed Grinnell last Saturday a three-way tie between the Scots, IC and Lake Forest for the final playoff berth was forged. Unfortunately for the Scots, IC won the tie-breaker.

Two weeks ago, the Scots knew they had to win their remaining three games to assure themselves a playoff berth. Instead, they finished 2-1 over that stretch, the only loss coming to Lake Forest and that proved to be THE game.

“We outplayed them in the second half, but we dug too big of a hole in the first half,” reported Bittner of the loss that effectively knocked her team out of contention. “We executed our game plan to take away their inside game, but their 3-point shooter got in a zone.”

The zone for that shooter – Susan Hedrick – turned out to be the Twilight Zone for Bittner’s troops. Hedrick nailed eight of her nine 3-point attempts as the Foresters hit over 52 percent of their long range bombs.

“Lake Forest had three players who liked to score inside,” explained Bittner. “They’re not a team that shoots a high percentage of 3-pointers. We had to pick our battle and wanted to defend the inside and not let their three big guns determine the outcome. It was frustrating because we executed the game plan.”

The Scots rebounded – figuratively speaking – Saturday in an 85-62 Senior Day win over Grinnell. The team’s two active seniors – Tanesha Hughes and Melissa Gorski combined for 44 points, 22 rebounds and 11 steals, helping the Scots to a 14-9 record, tying them for the second-highest win total in Monmouth history.

“We talked as a team about sending Tanesha and Mitt out with class,” said Bittner. “We certainly did that and both of them had a great game to end their careers.”

The Scots slowly built up a double digit lead in the first half and increased a 12-point lead to 27 eight minutes into the second half. Monmouth picked up 19 steals in the game and held the Pioneers’ trigger-happy 3-point club to just 39 percent shooting from the field.

“With the way Grinnell likes to shoot threes, all it takes is two or three possessions and they can wipe out a big lead in a hurry,” said Bittner. “We had to be aware of streaks. Defense was the key for us in that game. We came out very aggressive and had quite a few steals. We did a good job with the trap and applied a lot of pressure.”

Sophomore Kim Howard showed she can handle pressure. Needing to make her first free throw to set the career consecutive free throw mark at 20, Howard calmly nailed her first, bringing a thunderous cheer from the bench. Now for No. 21.

Oops, Howard’s next toss clanged off the iron bringing more thunderous cheers from the bench….OK, so maybe they were jeers instead of cheers.

“We found out she can hit the pressure free throws,” joked Bittner of Howard’s trip to the line. “Kind of funny that she missed her next one.  It’s really all about focus. She’s not a great free throw shooter in practice, but she has a great ability to focus in a game. I’m glad she aggressively took the ball to the hole and gave herself the opportunity.”

Opportunities will abound for the Scots next year. They’ll have to replace nearly half their scoring (Hughes 16.3 ppg, Gorski 16.0 ppg) and half their rebounds (Hughes 10.2 rpg, Gorksi 8.5 rpg).

Gorski ended her stellar career with 1,273 points, placing her fourth all-time – just 45 points behind her now-former coach. She also finished with 312 assists, good for third, 32 behind career leader Courtney Scherrer.

Hughes finished the season with 11 double-doubles. With her 16.3 ppg and 10.2 rpg averages, she could lead the conference in both categories after this weekend’s tournament. IC’s Candi Norville, currently third in MWC scoring behind Hughes and second-place Gorski, would need to average more than 30 points per game this weekend to overtake Hughes.     

“Mitt and Tanesha should receive a lot of credit for helping build our program,” said Bittner. “We were 6-17 and a bottom-dweller the year before they arrived. We’ve steadily improved and are now consistently in the hunt for a postseason berth. Tanesha was a clear difference-maker this year. She was good as a junior, but not a dominant force. I believe she was the best interior player in the league this year. Mitt was such a good all-around player. When you look at her numbers – points, assists, rebounds, steals – it really shows how complete a player she was.”

Despite the loss of two talented seniors, Bittner can remain upbeat with a solid core of returners. Justine Boone, Alison Andrews and Lynsey Barnard all reaped the benefits of each others’ play.

“Justine stepped up and claimed the point guard spot,” praised Bittner. “That allowed Lynsey to play a more natural position and get freed up to take more threes. Justine set the tone for us many times with her defense out top, getting some steals and setting traps. Alison averaged 10 points per game and I don’t see why she can’t increase that next year.”

Bittner is just hoping “next year” isn’t the battle cry of Cubs fans. Before school began last August, Bittner lost an all-conference player when junior Elise Waldorf elected to attend nursing school – taking her 13.6 ppg and 5.1 rpg averages with her. Once practice began, Bittner was hit again, this time when senior 3-point specialist Katie Sheets was physically unable to play. Sheets had played in all 23 games as a junior and led the team that year with 42 treys.

“Those were two pretty big sets of shoes to fill,” said Bittner. “You don’t just pick up a paper and find two recruits of that caliber. There will be some opportunities for recruits and our returning role players next year.”

The Scots may play the numbers game next season in a variety of ways.

“If we had just won one more conference game this season, we’d be playing this weekend,” claimed Bittner. “It’s just a matter of getting over the edge.”

NEARING THE TOP OF THEIR GAME

In their final tune-up before this weekend’s Midwest Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Fighting Scots picked up seven firsts and had improved performances at the non-scored Wartburg Invitational last Saturday.

“It was an improvement for both teams,” said Roger Haynes. “We had some things that will contribute to our team effort at this weekend’s conference meet.”

Shannon Turczyn was one of those with “improvements.” Her winning time in the 55-meter hurdles (8.37) was just .02 seconds off her own school record and improved her provisional qualifying time. She also improved her conference rank and clocked a personal-best in the 200- (27.15) where she was eighth behind teammate Jae Moore. Moore’s seventh-place time (26.90) was just .07 off her own personal-best. Moore also took fifth in the 55- (7.54) where Turczyn was seventh (7.75).

Megan McKenna, Didier and Erin Degelman completed a 1-2-3 finish in the pole vault. McKenna and Didier each cleared identical heights (10’6) and Degelman was just six inches back in her first competition of the year. Sarah Stinson and Heather Hull were 3-4 in the high jump. Each cleared personal-bests with identical jumps (5’1-1/4) and moved up in the league rankings.      

In the women’s throws, Gloria Lehr won the shot put with a provisional qualifying mark (42’11-1/2) and Amanda Streeter placed fifth (38’5-1/2). Streeter threw a personal-best by two feet to finish second in the weight throw (48’11-3/4) and Lehr was fifth (46’2-1/2).

“Amanda had a quality outing in the throws,” said Haynes. “Erin’s mark in the pole vault will put her in good shape for the conference meet. We held her out of competition, but she’s doing well. That was a pretty substantial mark to add this late in the season.”

Substantial, too was the men’s 400-meter dash where Luke Reschke, Logan Hohl and Jacob Stott led the men with a 1-2-3 finish. Reschke improved his conference-best and provisional qualifying time (49.31). Hohl and Stott also moved up the conference standings (49.83 and 49.87, respectively).

“The 400-meters was a pretty good race for us,” said Haynes. “Luke improved his provisional time and Logan and Jake were both very close to the provisional time. That puts all three of them in the top half in the conference meet.”

Tyler Hannam and Matt Hassler completed a 1-2 punch in the high jump. Each cleared the same height (6’3-1/2) and John Gambrel placed fourth (5’9-3/4).

Jeremy Henkins and Sam Cokinos rounded out the Scots’ winners. Henkins took first in the pole vault (11’11-3/4) and Cokinos won the shot put (48’4-3/4). Peyton Lumzy placed second in the shot (46’11), Paul Terpening was fourth (44’0) and Nick Hitterman was eighth (33’2-1/2).

The Scots also faired well when they didn’t place first. Katie Staab and Amy Aghababian moved up the conference standings in the 800-. Staab’s fifth-place finish included a personal-best (2:25.16) and Aghababian shaved two seconds off her previous season-best (2:29.78). Morgan Leffel improved her MWC rank in the 400- (1:03.55) where she placed eighth. Mary Kate Beyer placed second in the 3000- (10:30.33). Whitney Didier and Kanisha Lampkin teamed with Staab and Aghababian on the 4x400 relay to finish seventh (4:17.97).

McKenna, Leffel and Didier were all top eight finishers in the long jump. McKenna took third (16’9-1/2), Leffel was fifth (15’8-1/4) and Didier seventh (14’9-3/4). McKenna and Didier improved their conference marks. Moore and Leffel placed fifth and sixth in the triple jump (32’10-1/2 and 32’2-1/4, respectively).

On the men’s side, Saidu Sesay took third in the 55-meter dash (6.74) and Kyle Prout was seventh (6.87). Reschke, Sesay, Hohl and Ryan Hardman were in the top eight in the 200-. Reschke was second by .03 seconds (22.82), Sesay improved his conference time to finish fourth (23.04), Hohl was fifth (23.09) and Hardman eighth (23.28).

Michael Blodgett picked up a second in the triple jump (40’8-3/4) and a third in the long jump (20’9-1/4). Nick Wright was an inch back of Blodgett to place fourth in the triple jump. Wright was seventh in the triple jump (20’1-3/4).

In the mile run, Damon Bautista and Geoff Bird placed second and seventh while improving their conference times. Bautista’s time (4:32.75) was just one second off the winning pace and Bird shaved three seconds off his season-best (4:37.75). Tim Bentz ran to a seventh-place finish in the 800- (2:00.96). Hardman, Shane Reschke, Logan Weir and Patrick Munschenk combined on the 4x400 relay to place third (3:26.98).

“Logan and Patrick ran improved times on their splits,” said Haynes of the 4x400 performance. “They’ll be valuable to us in the medley relays this weekend.”

The Scots’ took five of the top seven spots in the men’s weight throw. Lumzy placed second (47’0-1/4), Cokinos was third (45’1-1/2), Terpening fifth (42’7), Josh Williams sixth (42’0) and Hitterman seventh (39’7).

The Scots host the Midwest Conference Championships Friday and Saturday at the Huff Athletic Center. Friday’s competition begins at 3:00 p.m., Saturday’s round begins at 10:30 a.m.

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

A 71-60 win over Lake Forest and holding the nation’s top scoring offense more than 15 points below their season average did little to take the sting out of the men’s basketball team’s 8-15 record for coach Mark Vershaw.

“Unlike last year when we put together a string and played really well over the last month, I felt like this year we underachieved and that falls on me,” said Vershaw. “I’ll take that blame for not having them ready. I’m disappointed in myself that I wasn’t able to get them to play to their potential. We were very inconsistent. In the span of a week we gave a team their first win of the year (Knox) and then turned around and beat the No. 11 team in the nation (St. Norbert).”

The Scots were like Jekyll and Hyde in the win over Lake Forest. An 18-0 run and 60 percent first half shooting gave the Scots a 45-21 halftime lead last week. The second half was a complete about face.

“We played a great first half,” praised Vershaw. “Not so good in the second. If you balanced it all out, we played a pretty good game. We had some breakdowns in the second half and allowed a young team to get back in it.”

Speaking of young, a pair of freshmen with limited playing time came up with big performances. Curtis Oler and Corey Bishop each contributed 11 points – an effort not lost on their coach.

“Curtis and Corey played extremely well,” praised Vershaw. “We ran a motion offense and got a variety of shots from plenty of guys. Corey also picked up some good rebounds against a very strong post player. It was a good team effort win.”

The Scots turned in a stellar performance against eventual regular season conference champion Grinnell in the season finale Saturday. Monmouth’s defense held the Pioneers to just 38 first half points and only trailed 38-33 at the break.

“We told them if we could stay close in the first half, we would have a chance to win,” reported Vershaw. “We knew if we could get in the double bonus early in the second half we would have a shot to win it.”

The double bonus did come early and the Scots were ready to take advantage, making 14 of 17 free throws in the second half. Eric Cogdill’s two free throws with 10:41 left gave the Scots their final lead before the Pioneers increased their lead with a 15-0 run.

“We just had fatigue set in,” said Vershaw who used the Grinnell system of “line changes” for much of the game. “We had the guys in three groups and told them whatever group performed the best would be the one that would get the most minutes.”

The starting group of Cogdill, Robbie Hinkle and seniors Kyle Weyeneth, Kyle Cook and Corey Turner proved to be the most effective against the Pioneers. Cogdill finished with a team-high 18 points and Turner added 14. Hinkle led with four assists.

“Their senior s made the plays in that stretch where they were able to retake the lead,” said Vershaw. “We used the system of massive substitutions and switched up defenses to confuse them. We did that for the most part. Our legs just weren’t there to keep us in it down the stretch. The guys did what we asked them to do except finish strong at the rim. It was just a case of fatigue being the difference.”

Vershaw is hoping next year’s difference comes in the form of more consistency, and he’ll have to get it without the team’s most consistent player.

“Kyle (Weyeneth) has been very consistent since Day 1,” praised Vershaw. “He works hard every day in practice and gives it 100 percent every minute of every game. He’s the type of player you don’t get to coach that often. When you do, you should appreciate what you have. You never wondered at the end of the game if he gave his best effort.”

Vershaw is hoping the Scots’ best effort next season results in more consistency…and more wins.

A NEEDED REST

Men’s tennis coach Chad Braun could find a silver lining in last weekend’s snow storm that forced cancellation of his team’s scheduled match with St. Ambrose.

“We were kind of banged up already, so the guys could use a break,” said Braun. “They were really geared up to play, but they also needed a rest.”

The cancellation means the Scots will have had two full weeks off since their last action prior to traveling to Dubuque this weekend. Braun’s team will meet a Duhawks’ team that shares a common opponent with Monmouth. Dubuque fell to Concordia (Wis.) 5-4. Monmouth defeated CUW by the same score.

“I expect the Dubuque match to be a pretty tight match,” predicted Braun. “If we play the way we’re capable, we’ll have a good match. I don’t know too much about Eureka, but we need to worry about us. We’ll go out and try to play our best and see what happens.”

Braun will use the non-conference matches this weekend to tweak his doubles combinations, moving Sam Graf from No. 3 doubles to No. 1 with Kyle Korb. Korb’s previous partner – Chris Utterback – will join Eric Brandhorst at No. 2 doubles. The remixed No. 3 team will pair Tyler Lampe with Ben Morrow who moved from the No. 2 team.

“They’re all making a nice transition to the new pairings,” said Braun. “I think that unexpected extra week off will help them even more. So far, I’ve really liked what I’ve seen out of those combinations.”

Braun will have plenty of time to digest the new combinations. This weekend’s matches will be their last competition until the team hosts Ripon on March 20.

“The long break will really give our guys a chance to let those nagging injuries heal up,” said Braun.

They’ll need to be healed and rested after they resume action – playing three matches in two days after the spring break.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Fri., Feb. 27
Track – hosts Midwest Conference Indoor Championships, 3:00 pm

 Sat., Feb. 28
Track – hosts Midwest Conference Indoor Championships, 10:30 am
Men’s Tennis – at Dubuque with Eureka, 9 am/Noon

SCOTSIVATIONAL

“You can't just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You've got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.” - Diana Ross