The Monmouth College men and women’s indoor track team has had much to look forward to during this week. The team will compete this Sat., Feb. 16, in the UM-Platteville/Nike Impact Sports Open, in Platteville, Wis. Looking further into the schedule: from Feb. 29 to Mar. 1, the Scots will travel to Jacksonville, Ill. for the Midwest Conference Indoor Championships.

“We are ranked well in conference, and we have a good chance to win this weekend to better ourselves for conference in three weeks,” stated Sarah Stinson, a freshman for the Scots.

Katey Vaccarello, a junior for the Scots said, “We’re going to Platteville, and it’s going to be good competition, and we all hope to improve our times, so we can get good lanes in the conference meet.”

Aaron Daverin, a junior on the team, stated, “This week of practice has been going well. We just have been trying to clean all the little things up. Conference is only 2 weeks away. There are a lot of teams that are at our heels and correcting the little things will make or break us.”

Last weekend on Feb. 9, the team competed in the Illinois Wesleyan Invitational in Bloomington, Ill. The men placed second out of nine teams, as the women received fifth place out of 10 teams.

Three  Monmouth swimmers were all named Conference Performer of the Week, seniors Jonny Henkins and Peter Reschkle and junior Luke Sprecher were all recognized last week after their individual performances at the Wesleyan Invitational.

In men’s competition, Henkins placed first in pole vault with a height of 16’7-1/4. Sprecher placed second in the pole vault with a height of 16’7-1/4.

Both Henkins and Sprecher automatically qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in Ada, Ohio. The dynamic duo finished more than a foot-and-a-half ahead of the third place vaulter. In the Midwestern Conference standings, the two are top height in the pole vault by two feet and are ranked second in the nation.

Reschke had an amazing weekend as he took first place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.67. Reschkle also placed third in the 400-meter dash with a provisional qualifying time of 49.46. His 400-time is first in the conference and eighth in the nation. He also received conference honors after his performance last week.

The men’s 4X400 “A” relay team consists of Reschkle, freshman Logan Hohl, junior Jacob Stott and senior Brad Gross   and provisionally qualified with a third place time of 30:20.30. The four men are the league’s best, and they stand seventh nationally.

In field events, senior Zach Wilson placed first in both the shot put and weight toss. The shot flew 51’3, and his weight toss sailed 59’7, both tosses were provisional qualifying.

As for the women, in field events, senior Jenny Babos received first place in the weight throw with a provisional qualifying distance of 50’10. Babos placed fifth in the shot put with a distance of 41’3-3/4.

Sophomore, Gloria Lehr placed ahead of Babos in the shot put with a toss of 41’10-3/4. Both Babos and Lehr threw for their personal-best to finish 4-5.

Megan Clennon, a senior for the Scots, took fifth place in the high jump with 5’1. Freshmen Sarah Stinson and Heather Hull tied for eighth place with 4’11.

Morgan Leffel, a freshman on the team, also added to her personal-best with a triple jump of 33’5-1/4 and placed seventh with a time of 1:01.71 in the 400-meters to capture 10th place.

Shannon Turczyn, a junior for the Scots, posted a conference best in the 55-meter hurdles, placing second with a time of 8.62. While freshman Mary Kate Beyer ran a personal-best 5:33.00 in the mile to take fifth place. Beyer also placed sixth in the 5000-meters, clocking in at 19:06.27. Her time ranks second in conference.

The distance relay team of Kaile Schreiner, sophomore; Amy Aghababian, sophomore; Michelle Nutting, freshman and Jayme Ayers, sophomore, clocked in at 14:05.29, placing them in fifth place.

The Fighting Scots track team has practiced hard this week and will begin travel today for the meet in Platteville, Wis. “Platteville is a fast track we are going to do the best we can; there will be some good competition this weekend. Coach Haynes has said that the upperclassmen have been doing well all season long by stepping up as well as the freshmen. They are doing their part to help out and step it up,” stated Stinson.

“We had a lot of great performances. People are starting to step up and do what they are capable of doing. As a team, we are coming closer together and always pushing each other to be at our best,” stated Daverin.

“This weekend is not going to be easy. We are going to be facing some great team. We have to go in with the right mind set and do what we are capable of doing. Big meets like this give us more competition and hopefully we will improve from the following meets,” added Daverin.

After the meet in Platteville this weekend, the team will have one remaining meet before the Midwest Conference Indoor Championships at Illinois College. The Fighting Scots will head to Waverly, Iowa on Feb. 23.

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