October 12, 1998

ST. LOUIS, MO -- The Monmouth men’s and women’s cross country teams took advantage of perfect weather conditions, a fast course and great competition to post their best times of the fall season to date Saturday at the Washington University Invitational. The meet was held at Forest Park Golf Course in St. Louis, which will also be the site of the 1998 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships in November.
All ten Monmouth runners posted their fastest times of the 1998 season at Washington and six of the ten recorded lifetime PR times as the runners enjoyed sunny skies, light winds and a flat course. Sophomore Tony Miles (Moline,IL/Moline) placed 96th of 245 runners in the men’s 8000-meter race to lead the Fighting Scot contigent. Miles’ time of 26:53 was a career best by three seconds and only the second time Miles has broken 27 minutes. Freshman Charlie Sunderlage (Burlington,IL/ Central) finished in a lifetime best of 29:01 to place 195th as Monmouth’s second runner and he was closely followed across the line by sophomore Ken Williams (St. Louis,MO/ Edwardsville) and junior Derek Cisel (Elmwood,IL/Elmwood). Williams (202, 29:14) and Cisel (203, 29:15) battled it out down the stretch, with Williams beating his teammate to the finish by one place and one second. Junior Sam Watkins (Aledo,IL/Aledo) rounded out the Scots’ team effort by running a career-best time of 31:04 to place 228th. Despite the season-best performances the Scots could only manage a 20th place finish of 22 complete teams as Division II entry Northwest Missouri State University took the team title.
The women's squad also enjoyed their best outing of the season. Senior Gretchen Vandergriff (Wolcott,IN/Greenwood) rebounded from two disappointing races to lead the Monmouth women for the first time this season. Vandergriff’s time of 20:15 on the 5000-meter course (123rd place) was by far her fastest of the season and should rank as one of the best among Midwest Conference runners. Junior Ann Moody (Yates City,IL/Farmington) turned in another solid performance, placing 131st in a career-best time of 20:26, and classmate Dara Pagel (Lincoln,IL/ Lincoln) followed in 149th place with her lifetime-best effort of 20:42. Freshman Christina Barbic (Antioch,IL/Antioch) was the Scots’ fourth finisher and also turned in a career PR, running 21:14 to place171st. Senior Tammy Schrieber (Elgin,IL/Burlington Central) returned to action from an early-season injury to close out the team scoring in 27:06 and 232nd place. Southeast Missouri State claimed the women’s title with Monmouth placing 22nd of 25 complete teams.
"We had our best race of the season this weekend, without a doubt," said Monmouth coach Chris Pio. "The runners took advantage of the course, competition and great weather to run some very fine races. We stayed within our abilities among some outstanding teams and it paid off with some career-best times. The runners are starting to benefit from some quality training and hopefully the hard work will keep paying big dividends for us."

The runners will now take a week off from racing to train and rest for the upcoming Division III Illinois State Meet. Monmouth will host the State Meet on Saturday, September 24th.