After racing their conference competition the last three weeks, the Monmouth men=s and women=s cross country teams took advantage of the college=s fall break period to travel south to Memphis, Tennessee and participated in the Rhodes College Invitational on Saturday. The invitational, which featured 14 schools from Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, Kentucky and Illinois, allowed the Scots to race against some non-traditional competition before starting their stretch run through the late-season major meets on the fall schedule.

Monmouth represented itself quite well in both divisions, with the women placing 3rd among the 14-team field and the men 4th. Rhodes won the women=s meet with 35 points and Harding, an NAIA school from Arkansas, finished second (71) with Monmouth=s 92 points edging Centre (Kentucky)=s 97 for third. The Scots= total of 128 points in the men=s meet trailed champion Greenville (56), Emory (87) and Rhodes (111).

The Monmouth women continue to showcase their balance and team depth as they posted another tight team pack race. Gretchen Vandergriff (Wolcott,IN/Greenwood) led the women with a top-ten finish as the junior finished 8th in 20:25 on the hilly 5000-meter course. The Scots= depth was evident as the next four Monmouth runners placed 19-20-22-23 and were separated by a mere 24 seconds. Sophomore Jennifer Hoffman (Orland Park,IL/Sandburg) paced the pack at 21:03 and was chased across the line by the senior trio of Kathleen Yarger (Belvidere,IL/HS) (21:12), Rita McQuinn (Mason City,IL/Illini Central) (21:24) and Carrie Knauer (Strawn,IL/Prairie Central) (21:27). Monmouth=s scoring places were closed out by sophomore Ann Moody (Yates City,IL/Farmington) in 22:26 (43rd place) and freshman Greta Swanson (Silvis,IL/East Moline) in 53rd place at 22:55.

Senior Matt Clemen (Naples,FL/Cascade) led the Monmouth men=s team for the first time in his career with an 18th-place effort of 28:11 on the 8000-meter layout. Clemen=s time was his best of the season by 15 seconds and was 16 seconds ahead of fellow senior Joel Eckberg (Walnut,IL/HS), who finished 24th in 28:27. Eckberg was quickly followed by teammates Tony Miles (Moline,IL/HS) (26th place, 28:39) and Jamie Nelson (Monmouth,IL/HS) (27th, 28:47). Senior Frank Schweda (Rolling Meadows,IL/HS) was the Scots= fifth finisher in 35th place at 29:32 and Monmouth also received top-seven scoring races from Kenneth Williams (Edwardsville,IL/HS) (66th, 30:39) and Derek Cisel (Elmwood,IL/HS) (69th, 30:47).

AOur runners had fun racing against different competition and represented the program well in both races,@ said Monmouth coach Chris Pio. AThe women showed another fantastic group effort and are confident in their abilities heading into the last few weeks of the season. The men=s team was helped tremendously by Matt Clemen=s performance and his race solidifies our top-five pack for the upcoming State Meet and MWC Conference Championship. We are ready to taper off for our final three meets and are looking forward to some great races from our runners.@

Monmouth hosts the Division III Illinois State Meet this weekend at Monmouth City Park before traveling to the MWC league meet at Grinnell, Iowa on November 1st.