Scots run over the compeition at Depauw

Look to continue at Scots Invite

by Mallory Mulvihill
Sports Editor

The Monmouth College men’s and women’s track and field teams had an impressive day at the Tiger Track Invitational at DePauw University on Feb. 4. The Scots know they are a strong team and are going to be a tough team to beat this year, and they had a chance to put their talent and skills to the test as they competed against some very tough NAIA and DII schools.

For the men, it was just another victory under their belt. Monmouth blew away most of the competition and ended up beating the runner up squad from The University of Indianapolis by nearly 18 points. The teams that ended up rounding out the top five were, Lindsey Wilson College, Rend Lake College, and Vincennes University.

Again, junior Tyler Rundle led the field and kept up his high speed performances by winning the 200 and taking second in the 400. He ran the 200 in a quick time of 22.58, which is officially the fastest time in the Midwest Conference. His time in the 400 of 50.79 is just short of his fastest of the season at 50.56. Finally, he had a spot on the 4x400 relay team that placed third with a time of 3:29.29, this is also just short of their top of conference mark which is set at 3:27.42. He was joined by sophomore Adam Rodriguez, and juniors Dante Daniels and Kel Bond.

Dante Daniels is coming off a very impressive football season as the starting tailback for the 10-1 Scots. He has already put victories in the win column so far this year. He helped the 4x200 relay to place second with a time 1:32.47, which is just one second off the Midwest Conference top time the relay has posted earlier this year. Daniels was joined by junior Brad Franks, sophomore Tim Meredith, and freshman Aaron Daverin.

The distance running squad also had its feet in the right places as Bond and senior Anthony Welty took home individual victories. Bond won the 800 meter dash in a time of 1:56.02, which betters his top of the conference time by nearly two seconds. “Kel was extremely dominant in this race, and he was pretty close to running a national time,” said Coach Haynes. Welty put in a solid performance in the 5000 meter with a personal best time of 15:17.46. “He ran a real nice race, exchanging the lead a few times with another runner before taking the lead on the final lap,” said Coach Haynes.

In the field events, Jeff Rebholz won the shot put with a toss of 49’1-1/2. He is continuing the dominance that he had last year in this event and in his other throwing events. Last week, Johnny Henkins earned himself Midwest Conference Performer of the Week after a pole vault of 15’9. He ran into a familiar face in the pole vaulting competition when his teammate, Peter Sprecher, won the event at 15’3, on fewer misses than Henkins.

The women also put in a strong performance as they placed third out of fifteen teams. The only teams to beat the women were University of Indianapolis and SIU-Edwardsville. The highlight of the meet was sophomore Megan McKenna’s field event performances. Her efforts this week earned her Midwest Conference Performer of the Week. McKenna ended up taking third in the pole vault with a vault of 9’6-1/4. Teammate, Christina Reiner won the event at the height of 10’0. McKenna then added a third in the long jump with a personal best of 16’8-1/4 and seventh in the triple jump.

The freshman class is already starting to get their foot in the door. Shannon Turczyn finished third in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 8.85 which beats the top of the conference mark held by fellow teammate and freshman Ashley Widdop. Markie Bacon also placed in the hurdles.
The middle distance runners racked in enough points to push the Scots ahead, especially behind the legs of Sara Ingersoll, Abby Horneck, and Lizmeth Sandoval who placed 4-5-6 in the 800 and in the mile. Ingersoll ran a personal best time of 5:40.94 in the mile and just beat out Horneck in the 800 with a time of 2:31.13.

The Scots will look to keep up their top five finishes as they host the Fighting Scots Invitational on Sat. Feb. 11. Field events start at 11am and running will being at noon. Beloit and Carroll will be present at the meet to represent the Midwest Conference.