STREAKING ALL-AMERICANS
It’s been four U.S. presidents since the last
time Monmouth College didn’t have a track athlete earn All-American
status. The Scots continued their streak last weekend when three
more athletes earned All-American status at the NCAA Outdoor Track &
Field Championships at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio.
Shannon Turczyn (Peru,
Ill./LaSalle-Peru) earned her fourth straight All-American
designation in the 100-meter hurdles and Logan Hohl (Orion,
Ill./Orion) picked up his first outdoor All-American honor in the
400-meter hurdles. Turczyn and Hohl joined Tanesha Hughes
(Peoria, Ill./Woodruff) as the latest Fighting Scots to earn
All-American status. Friday, Hughes wrapped up her discus career
with a fourth-place finish, gaining All-American status for the
first time in three trips to the National Championships in the
event. Her discus throw of 150’5” was just seven inches out of a
third-place finish.
“It’s a good way for her to end her career,”
said Roger Haynes of Hughes who also does duty with the
volleyball and basketball teams. “She’s had a spectacular career in
all three of her sports. You won’t see that type of individual at
any level very often. Coach (Brian) Woodard focuses on
sound fundamentals and Tanesha has a very good base with her throws.
She has the ability and received good coaching to bring it all
together one last time. Anytime anyone places in the top 4 in the
country, it’s a great accomplishment. We appreciate all Tanesha has
done for all the athletic programs.”
Turczyn made the 100-hurdles finals for the
fourth time and finished fifth for the third time. The senior
clocked a 14.46 in the final race of her career. Her time was just a
half-second out of second place. Sumer Rohrs of Frostburg State
successfully defended her national title, breaking the tape in
13.77. Turczyn, who picked up her first indoor All-American award in
March in the 55-meter hurdles, ends her career as a five-time
All-American.
“Obviously, it’s a great accomplishment to be
an All-American all four years,” said Haynes. “It would have been
interesting to be able to do it over again. I don’t believe fifth
was the highest she could have finished. She’s very efficient over
the hurdles and landing. She’s made some changes since her high
school career and that has been her biggest speed improvement. She’s
a second faster now than in high school and that’s quite an
improvement in a 14 second race.”
Hohl, who has two indoor All-American awards in
the 4x400 relay, placed sixth in the 400-meter hurdles to earn his
first outdoor All-American award. His time of 53.66 was just over a
second out of fourth place. Cory Beebe of Salisbury University won
the event in 51.28.
“Logan ran a very solid race in the prelims,”
said Haynes. “He ran a very strong second five hurdles in the
prelims, but in the finals it was just the opposite. He ran well in
the first five hurdles in the finals, but didn’t finish as well over
the last five. Overall it was a good experience for his first
national experience at the 400 hurdles, but he’s capable of doing
much better.”
Competing in the shot put Saturday, Hughes
narrowly missed a trip to the finals and a chance for a second
All-American award. Her throw of 42’4-3/4” was just seven inches
from qualifying her for the finals.
Gloria Lehr (Knoxville, Ill./Knoxville),
making her first appearance at the outdoor championships, threw the
discus 132’3”. The junior’s effort was among her best this season,
but missed the finals cut by a mere four feet.
“She was as close to what we expected as
anyone,” said Haynes. “She really prepares herself well and should
have a good chance at getting back there both indoors and outdoors
next year. She’s a very good student of her craft and that will
definitely benefit her in her senior year.”
This marks the 25th straight year Monmouth
College has had an athlete earn All-American status. The streak also
includes seven national champions and five title-winners in the last
five years. To the casual observer, it appears the Scots are on a
roll, or is it a journey?
“We, as a coaching staff, were analyzing this
year’s meet as we do every year,” reported Haynes. “Did we have kids
that had fourth, fifth and sixth place ability and we did a good job
to get them there…or did they have better ability and we did a poor
job to finish were we did…or did they have lower ability and
overachieved to be All-Americans?”
Maybe that deep thinking is how the Scots have
come to achieve so much success on the track.
“We’ve got to dream bigger,” said Haynes. “If
an athlete’s only goal is to be an All-American, then they’re
shortchanging themselves. If you’re good enough to be an
All-American, why not dream of being the national champion?”
That’s a philosophy that has worked for
Monmouth – seven times.
From Haynes’ point of view, grooming a
successful athlete may be more about the internal ability of his
athletes rather than their physical attributes.
“I hold Jake Stott up as a guy that
would be on my all-time 4x400 relay team,” said Haynes of his
graduated senior. “He was very coachable and went from a rookie with
a little ability to a very accomplished runner over his four years.
He didn’t have as much ability as a lot of other runners, but he had
a very good, common-sense approach. He was so consistent you always
knew what type of performance you were going to get from him. He got
better each year because that was his expectation of himself. He
worked extremely hard to get better. Jake is a good example of
realizing you can’t just expect to be good. You’ve got to work at
it.”
While the fans’ yearly expectations have come
to include conference titles and All-Americans, Haynes’ expectations
are to keep raising the bar – and not just for the athletes, but for
himself.
“I just bought some more books and videos to
look at this summer to see what mistakes we’ve been making and try
to get better at what we do,” said Haynes, himself a former National
Coach of the Year and a 20-time conference Coach of the Year.
Maybe that’s why the Scots track teams have
yielded so many All-Americans. Even after more than 25 years of
coaching well over 400 conference champions and more than 100
All-Americans, Haynes won’t yield to complacency.
LIGHTS, TURF, ACTION!
If you thought Roger Haynes’ track team
was fast, you should watch the construction crew at April Zorn
Memorial Stadium.
The Scots track team had barely returned to
campus from the Midwest Conference Championships when Phase 2 of the
football stadium project began a little over two weeks ago. The
second – and final – phase of the project includes installing
lights, artificial turf, repairing the track and a makeover of the
football practice fields.
The crews began removing the grass field just
days after the Midwest Conference Track Championships and in short
order had the field completely scalped. Scots Scoop could have
accomplished the same feat with a nine iron, although the divots
probably would have been deeper.
While one crew removed sod, leveled the field –
replacing the field’s high crown with a one percent grade – and
hauled in gravel, another crew took less than a day to erect the
four light towers. Of course, pre-planning had the concrete base of
the towers poured and the wiring installed last year during the
first phase of construction. The four light banks are expected to be
fully operational by the end of this week.
The prep work for the actual field turf
includes a new drainage system. The system will channel water
through the artificial turf and out a series of pipes, meaning the
Fighting Scots football team and not the swim team will be able to
play and practice when Mother Nature decides to drop a significant
amount of rain on the field. (See vs. Lawrence, 2009.)
The new turf is scheduled to be in place by
late June with the track resurfacing and practice field work to
follow.
When Steve Bell’s team returns for
two-a-days in August, all the pieces should be in place to complete
the football stadium project. The Fighting Scots christened the new
stadium and press box last year with the team’s 12th league title.
Scots Scoop thinks the new turf should receive the same treatment.
THE LAST OF THE CONFERENCE
HONORS
Twenty-eight student-athletes were recently
named to the Midwest Conference All-Academic team for the spring
sports season.
In order to be named to the MWC’s All-Academic
team, a student-athlete must have completed at least one year at the
institution, carry a cumulative GPA of 3.2 and earn a varsity letter
in that sport.
The following student-athletes are Monmouth’s
2009 spring sports representatives:
Men’s and Women’s Track & Field (13)
–seniors Tanesha Hughes (Peoria, Ill./Woodruff), Shannon Turczyn
(Peru, Ill./LaSalle-Peru) and Chris Welty (Dixon, Ill./Newman
Central Catholic); juniors Gloria Lehr (Knoxville, Ill./Knoxville),
Patrick Mundschenk (Deer Park, Ill./Lake Zurich) and Taryn Tang
(East Moline, Ill./United Township); and sophomores Alison Andrews
(Algonquin, Ill./Harry D. Jacobs), Geoff Bird (Kenilworth, Ill.),
Maureen Dewan (Oak Forest, Ill./Oak Forest), Heather Hull
(Cambridge, Ill./Cambridge), Morgan Leffel (Viola, Ill./Sherrard),
Kyle Prout (Chillicothe, Ill./IVC) and Sarah Stinson (Kewanee,
Ill./Wethersfield).
Men’s Golf (6) – seniors Greg Jones
(Roseville, Ill./Roseville) and Jake Kilberg (Rock Falls, Ill./Rock
Falls); juniors Zach Coles (Lake Villa, Ill./Antioch) and Kyle Tuor
(Peoria, Ill./Dunlap); and sophomores Rodney Clayton (Plano,
Ill./Plano) and Joe Hoffman (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley
Northwest).
Softball (4) – seniors Sarah Christensen
(Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) and Ashley Tocha (Kewanee,
Ill./Kewanee); junior Maggie Dort (Spring Grove,
Ill./Richmond-Burton); and sophomore Erin Fitzpatrick (New Lenox,
Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor).
Baseball (3) – juniors Brett Peterson
(Burlington, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) and Andrew Weidner (Harvard,
Ill./Harvard); and sophomore Dustin Murray (Lisle, Ill./Lisle).
Men’s Tennis (2) – senior Eric
Brandhorst (Quincy, Ill./Quincy) and sophomore Sam Graf (Mascoutah,
Ill./Mascoutah).
THE ‘WRITE’ STUFF
Fans don’t often imagine football players and
kindergarteners working together, but that’s exactly what happened
when the football team began a pen pal program with a group of area
kindergarten students.
The idea was the brainchild of 6-foot-1,
270-pound offensive lineman Seth Hill of Jacksonville, Ill.,
a junior elementary education major who had finished his practicum
aiding assignments and was looking for a way to stay involved with
the students at United North Elementary School in nearby Alexis. He
had assisted in Carl Young’s kindergarten class and decided to
enlist his football buddies in an effort to inspire the young
students to practice their writing skills each week.
“I thought I’d have to twist some arms to get
the guys to help,” said Hill of his plea to write to nearly 20
five-year-olds. “I had over 30 players sign up from offensive
linemen to defensive backs and everyone in between and from all
sorts of majors. I had to make some cuts to get it down to about 20
guys. We still had more players on standby to help if we needed.”
The Fighting Scots spent every Tuesday evening
from mid-January to May writing letters to their kindergarten pen
pals. Some of the Scots even included artwork.
“(Offensive lineman) Nick Hoffman is
pretty artistic and he included a sketch in his letters,” reported
Hill. “The kids at United then started coloring pictures in the
letters they sent to the players. Nick’s pen pal said he wasn’t
going to continue writing if Nick didn’t start coloring his
sketches, so I brought some markers and we all started to include
some colorings with the letters. It was relaxing – a good stress
reliever.”
Hill hand-delivered the letters each Wednesday
to the kindergarten class who anxiously awaited the mail delivery.
Like his postal service counterparts, Hill never missed a delivery –
except for Spring Break.
“That must have seemed like an eternity to
them,” said Hill. “I walked into the classroom after break and they
all wondered where their mail was. They missed not having any
letters for two weeks. Every week was like ‘The Price is Right’ when
I called their name for a letter. They really got excited about it.”
Young agrees with Hill and believes the
football team inspired his students to reach new levels of learning.
“The program was a huge success,” claimed
Young. “The pen pal program actually had the students looking
forward to writing in class every day. Some students who had been
struggling with their writing skills stepped it up and did quite
well. I was overwhelmed at how well the players bonded with the
class.”
The kindergartners weren’t the only ones to
reap the benefits of the program.
“Just the sheer fun of seeing what the kids
wrote was worth it,” said Hill who hopes the program will continue
in future years. “It’s a good way to show the area that the football
team cares about the surrounding area. We’re not just here for four
years and then we’re gone. We want to leave a lasting impression,
and not only on the football field. Everyone should do what they can
to help the surrounding area. Even if they can only give 10-20
minutes a night to write letters to grade-school students. If
they’re positively influencing one child, then it’s worth the
effort.”
Hill’s philosophy fits in perfectly with head
coach Steve Bell’s commitment to developing good citizens as
well as good athletes.
“We try to teach our players to have a positive
presence in the community,” said Bell. “By developing and nurturing
those ideals now, we believe the players will carry that philosophy
with them throughout their lifetime.”
Bell’s influence apparently is taking hold on
the Scots. As the culminating event of the pen pal program, the
players – along with Haase Embroidery, a local specialty shirt shop
– purchased T-shirts for each of the team’s pen pals and delivered
them in-person to the kindergarteners.
“When we delivered the T-shirts, each player
and student immediately bonded because of the months of writing
letters back and forth,” said Hill. “The class was in awe of seeing
all those football players in person. It made the kindergartners
feel really special that we would take the time to come and see
them. Some of the older students were a little envious of that extra
attention. We were able to eat lunch, take recess and just sit and
talk with them one-on-one before we had to get back to campus.”
Maybe someday one of those kindergarten
students will themselves become a Fighting Scot and carry on Hill’s
pen pal program.
AT LEAST HE DIDN’T SIGN THE
SCORECARD
It may be hard to believe, but even Scots Scoop
can make a mistake.
In last week’s recap of the men’s golf team’s
trek to the NCAA Division III National Golf Championship, the Scoop
reported Rodney Clayton carded the squad’s lone eagle during
the critical second round. Actually, Ryan Harvey also carded
an eagle. Harvey’s came during Round 3 on the Dye Course. The
junior’s approach shot dropped for eagle on the par 4, 14th,
a 396-yard killer with – of all things – an undulating fairway. The
designer made up for the lack of a bunker by nearly guaranteeing
players an approach shot off an uneven lie.
A Scoop of apologies to Ryan for missing his
eagle. We’ll take a double-bogey for that miss. Come to think of it,
the way the Scoop golfs, that’s actually a good score.
SUMMER VACATION
Today’s edition of Scots Scoop marks the
academic year’s final report.
After a busy school year that began with a
conference title and two home playoff games for the football team
and ended with the men’s golf team’s trip to the NCAA National
Tournament (and the track team’s annual pilgrimage to the Outdoor
Nationals – with three all-Americans) the Scoop needs a break. The
Scoop will return in late-August.
In the meantime, log on to
www.monm.edu/sportsinfo to keep up-to-date over the summer
months with all the Fighting Scots happenings.
THE SUMMER AHEAD
June
28-July 2 – Girls Basketball Camp (ages 8-14)
July
6-9 – Track & Field and Cross Country Camp (Grades 7-12)
July
13-16 – Boys Basketball Camp (ages 8-14)
July
26-31 – All-Sports Camp (ages 7-13)
August – fall athletes return to campus
SCOTSIVATIONAL
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in
a year of conversation.” - Plato
