October 6, 1998

SCOTS RUN AGAINST TOUGH COMPETITION AT LOYOLA
CHICAGO,IL -- The Monmouth men’s and women’s cross country teams traveled to downtown Chicago this past weekend for the Loyola University Lakefront Invitational. The races drew a highly competitive field of 39 teams from Divisions I, II and III as well as several NAIA and Canadian colleges and were run at Montrose Avenue Beach on Chicago’s famous Lake Shore Drive.

Sophomore Tony Miles (Moline,IL/Moline) continued to lead the Fighting Scot men’s cross country effort with a time of 28:07 on the 8000-meter course, which was wet and soggy from a week of rain. Miles’ effort placed him 176th in a field of 382 runners. Monmouth’s next finisher was freshman Charlie Sunderlage (Burlington,IL/ Central) at 30:16 (314th) and he was followed across the line by junior Derek Cisel (Elmwood,IL/Elmwood) in 30:46 (323rd). Sophomore Ken Williams (St. Louis,MO/Edwardsville) placed 330th (31:06) and junior Sam Watkins (Aledo,IL/Aledo) 344th in a season-best time of 31:47 to close out the team scoring. Monmouth placed 33rd of 39 schools in the overall final standings as the host Ramblers won the combined team title and the University of Windsor (Canada) captured the non-Division I championship.

The women's squad had only three finishers so the Scots did not receive a team score. Eastern Kentucky University won the combined team championship and another Canadian entry, the University of Western Ontario, took the non-Division I women’s team title. Junior Ann Moody (Yates City,IL/ Farmington) again paced the Fighting Scot women with her effort of 21:19, finishing in 231st place among 386 runners. Her time was the sixth-fastest ever run on the Loyola course by a Monmouth runner. Junior Dara Pagel (Lincoln,IL/ Lincoln) also ran her way onto the team’s top-ten List at Loyola, running 21:46 (# 10 all-time) to place 267th. Freshman Christina Barbic (Antioch,IL/ Antioch) was the Scots’ third finisher, placing 302nd in a time of 22:21.


"We always see outstanding competition at Loyola, some of the best teams in the Midwest, and get to run a great cross country course on the lakefront at the same time," said Monmouth coach Chris Pio. "The weather was a bit cool and windy but we handled it fairly well. We need to focus on the mental side of racing a bit better to run in a huge field like this. Our physical training has been going well and now it’s time for our runners to get tough mentally."

Monmouth will travel south this weekend to St. Louis for the Washington University Invitational on Saturday morning. The meet will be held at Forest Park Golf Course, the site of the 1998 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships in November.