November 17, 1997

MONMOUTH CROSS COUNTRY SEASON ENDS IN THE SNOW AT NCAA REGIONAL

OSHKOSH, WI -- The 1997 season came to an end for the Monmouth men=s and women=s cross country teams as the Fighting Scots competed in the NCAA Midwest Regional this past weekend. The meet featured entries from over 30 teams from Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri and was run at Lake Breeze Golf Course in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Runners faced chilly, windy weather and a slick, snow-packed course in an attempt to qualify for the NCAA Division III National Championships next week in Boston.

UW-Oshkosh, UW-Eau Claire, UW-LaCrosse and Augustana advanced on the women=s side while North Central, UW-LaCrosse, UW-Stevens Point, UW-Whitewater and Washington University were the five men=s qualifying teams to the national meet. Monmouth placed 19th in the women=s team results and 20th in the men=s competition.

Senior Carrie Knauer (Strawn,IL/Prairie Central) closed out her Monmouth cross country career as the team=s first finisher, placing 67th overall in a time of 20:25 on the 5000-meter course. Knauer=s time was the 9th-fastest NCAA Regional performance by a Monmouth runner in women=s team history and it was the fifth time this year the three-time Midwest Conference medalist had led the Fighting Scots in a race. Senior Kathleen Yarger (Belvidere,IL/HS) also went out with a good race, running 21:06 to place 103rd in her final collegiate cross country meet. Junior Gretchen Vandergriff (Wolcott,IN/Greenwood) paced the main Monmouth scoring pack as the Scots= other five runners all finished within ten places and 22 seconds of each other. Vandergriff placed 130th in 21:47 and was followed by sophomore Dara Pagel (Lincoln,IL/HS) in 21:52 (133rd place) and senior Rita McQuinn (Mason City,IL/Illini Central) in 21:57 (135th place) to complete the front five. Sophomore Jennie Hoffman (Orland Park,IL/Sandburg) clocked 22:04 for 137th place and freshman Greta Swanson (Orion,IL/United Township) finished in 22:09 and 140th place as the team=s sixth and seventh runners.

Senior Frank Schweda (Rolling Meadows,IL/HS) was the top Monmouth male runner in his final race, finishing the 8000-meter course in 27:45. Schweda placed 85th of 188 runners and was closely followed by freshman Tony Miles (Moline,IL/HS), who finished 92nd in 27:57. Monmouth received top-five efforts from two other outgoing seniors as Joel Eckberg (Walnut,IL/HS) [28:49, 121st] and Matt Clemen (Naples, FL/Cascade) [29:02, 127th] were the next Fighting Scot finishers. Freshman Ken Williams (Edwardsville,IL/ HS) broke into the top five for the first time this season as he finished in 29:30 (143rd place) to close the scoring group. Sophomores Clint LaFary (Green Valley,IL/Delavan) [30:11, 151st] and Jamie Nelson (Monmouth,IL/HS) [30:37, 156th] rounded out the Monmouth runners.

ADespite the less than ideal weather conditions, most of our runners ended the season on a very positive note against some of the best Division III teams in the country,@ said Monmouth coach Chris Pio. AThe times may not have been that fast but the effort was there from many of our runners. Our seniors ran hard in their last college race and we will certainly miss their leadership and talent. Our younger runners now have something to work towards for next year and, with several scoring pack runners returning, it=s time to look ahead to next fall.@