Monmouth rises to the top of cross country scene

By: Mike Wozniak
Contributing Writer

The Men’s Midwest Conference cross country meet was truly unique. For 19 out of 20 years, Grinnell has been the cream of the crop in the Midwest Conference (MWC). This year, however, Monmouth joined Grinnell at the top of the heap. At the conference meet, the Scots tied Grinnell 36-36 to become co-champions of the MWC. This has been the first time the Scots have held the title since an outright victory in 1996.

“When you’re dealing with one through five runners scoring, it’s very unusual; it’s only the second time it’s happened in the history of the Midwest Conference, one time was back in the 1930s. It was a matter of they beat us in the front two spots and we beat them in three, four and five [sic]. It ended up an exact tie, so it’s really unusual,” said head coach Roger Haynes.

The Scots received a boost from injured teammate, senior Zach Barr, national champion steeple-chase runner, who participated in his first meet since the opening of the 2005 season. Barr had been recovering from a broken leg which he injured early in the 2005 fall semester, while not engaged in an event.

Barr contributed more than a top-10 finish, as he finished eighth. He also brought his emotion and competitive spirit back to the course. Haynes commented that, “It was a big lift for us on a number of levels. He’s a physically talented runner and it’s great to see that he has overcome his injury. It was personally very satisfying for me to have him back around. He is a great influence on the runners on our team; he has a great work ethic. I was pleased to have him with us at that meet, regardless of how well he ran.”

The Scots had seven competitors place in the top 20. Freshman Clay Staley finished fourth overall with a time of 26:31.1. Senior leader Kel Bond finished just behind Staley, fifth overall in 26:44.00. Then came Barr in 27:08.7. Just behind Barr was junior Scott Heiar in ninth place. Senior Aaron Etienne finished very strong in 10th place. Another senior, Darin VanNattan, finished the race in 13th with a time of 27:23.9. The Scots’ last top-20 runner was freshman Brad Begyn, who came in at 27:38.6 and 19th overall.

The Scots had more runners in the top 20 than any of their team in the conference.

This meet was the Scots’ best showing at the Midwest Conference meet in recent history. “Clearly it’s been a goal of ours taking over the program six years ago. So we feel like its two high points in the season for us, the conference championships and the hope to advance to NCAA competition. That has always been the top two goals of our program,” said Haynes. “I was pleased with what our men did overall. It was certainly a landmark weekend for our program. But it’s something we would like to repeat in the years to come. So the bar has just moved up in regard to our expectations, I think.”

The Scots will lose six of their runners to graduation. However, the depth of talent on the team is very deep, so they should be able to make a smooth transition into next year.

Haynes also said, “We’ve got some quality runners coming back, but we have to add both quality and depth. We’ll lose a strong senior class with a number of seniors departing, but we have a strong young group coming back. Any time in cross country, you’re only as strong as your front runners and we have our number one runner coming back. But you also have to have depth through at least seven guys and we have to improve on that. So we have to work on both areas (sic).”

The Scots have closed out the season in an extraordinary way, in a finish that will go down in MWC history. The season has been completed except for a possible shot for national glory.