September 28, 1998
MILES EARNS TOP TEN FINISH AT BELOIT CROSS COUNTRY MEET
BELOIT, WI -- Sophomore Tony Miles (Moline,IL/Moline) earned his first top-ten individual finish of the fall season at Saturday’s Beloit College Invitational to lead the Fighting Scot cross country teams. Monmouth placed 6th in the 11-team field, which included several Midwest Conference entries. The English-style course at Beloit, which features two creek crossings and several log and haybale jumps, will be the site of the 1998 Midwest Conference Championships in November.
Miles led the men’s team for the fourth week in a row, finishing the difficult 8000-meter course in a time of 28:27. It was the sophomore’s second-best time of the year and marked his first top-ten collegiate invitational finish. Sophomore Ken Williams (St. Louis,MO/Edwardsville) was the team’s second runner, finishing in 35th place at 30:50. Freshman Charlie Sunderlage (Burlington,IL/ Central) and junior Derek Cisel (Elmwood,IL/Elmwood) crossed the line only seven seconds apart in 39th (31:15) and 41st (31:22), respectively. Junior Sam Watkins (Aledo,IL/Aledo) rounded out the team scoring in 54th with a time of 32:51.
Illinois Wesleyan won the team title with the host Beloit squad finishing second. Beloit’s Zac Freudenburg captured the individual title with a winning time of 26:45.
The women's squad had only four runners competing so the Scots did not receive a team score. Junior Ann Moody (Yates City,IL/Farmington) continued her front-running for the women’s team with a 17th-place effort. She toured the 5000-meter course in 22:04. Classmate Dara Pagel (Lincoln,IL/Lincoln) and freshman Christina Barbic (Antioch,IL/Antioch) were the next two Scots to finish, running through the chute together in 34th and 35th places in identical times of 22:54. Senior Gretchen Vandergriff (Wolcott,IN/Greenwood) finished in 24:28 to place 61st.
Beloit claimed the women’s team championship by placing four runners in the top nine. Chicago placed second and defending MWC champion Carroll finished third. Chicago’s Rhaina Echols ran away with individual honors, winning by over a minute in 18:43.
"We raced at Beloit to get to know the conference meet course and came away with some decent performances," said Monmouth coach Chris Pio. "It was another hot day and the obstacles on the course made for some slower times. Our training is geared for the late-season meets with smaller numbers this year so we are just taking it week by week. This was a test against some of our league competition, so now we know where we stand against other conference teams."