February 5, 1998

The Monmouth men's and women's indoor track & field teams have begun the 1998 season in record-setting fashion as five new school marks have been set in the squad's first two competitions. In addition to the team records, two Fighting Scot athletes have turned in NCAA national-qualifying performances in an attempt to get to the NCAA Indoor National Meet, scheduled for March 13-14 at Brandeis University.

The Scots traveled a partial team to Ames, Iowa on January 24 for competition in the Iowa State University Open and took a full squad to Mount Vernon, Iowa this past Saturday for the Cornell Hilltop Open. Monmouth athletes had the opportunity to compete against some of the best teams in the region at Iowa State, including several major Division I schools, before matching up with Division III and NAIA competition at Cornell. Both meets were non-scored and featured between 15 and 20 teams.

Sophomore Brian Houzenga (Fulton,IL/HS) posted the first new record of the season at Iowa State as he became the first Monmouth runner to break the 22-second mark indoors at 200 meters. Houzenga was clocked in 21.97 seconds on the ISU track. Senior Heather Furrow (Kirkwood,IL/Yorkwood) bettered the NCAA-qualifying time in the women's 400 meters in a provisional effort of 58.69 seconds, while senior Dennis Staggs (Farmington,IL/HS) just missed the national-qualifying time for the 55m high hurdles, finishing in 7.83 seconds. Freshman Constance Jackson (Peoria,IL/Woodruff) also had a close call with the record books, coming .14 seconds away from the school 55-meter dash mark with her time of 7.54 seconds.

Senior All-American Chris Sondgeroth (Pekin,IL/Erie) became the first Fighting Scot male to qualify for the Indoor National Meet with his first-place toss in the shot put of 54'5" at Cornell. Sondgeroth's throw shattered his previous indoor school record by over a foot and ranks among the best efforts in the country. Furrow claimed one of five Monmouth first-place performances at Cornell with a school-record run of 1:35.98 at 600 meters. Senior Stacy Brown (Barrington,IL/Lake Zurich) led a 1-2 Monmouth finish in the women's 55 meters as her time of 7.44 seconds edged Jackson (7.53) in the finals. Houzenga turned in an impressive sprint performance for the second straight week as he came from behind to anchor both the 4x200 and 4x400 relays to victory. He teamed with Rich Johnson (Galesburg,IL/HS), Joel Hagaman (Galva,IL/HS) and Toby Vallas (Knoxville,IL/HS) in the 4x200 and Johnson, Vallas and freshman Chris Lacy (Knoxville,IL/HS) in the 4x400. Sondgeroth and Tennille McClure (Taylor Ridge,IL/Rockridge) both established new school records in the indoor weight throw, a new event for 1998.

Sophomore Julie Larson (Altona,IL/ROWVA) claimed second in the women's long jump at 16'10" and senior Jeromy Hogan (Virden,IL/HS) took the runner-up spot in the men's high jump at 6'6". Third-place efforts were turned in by senior Bob Lindstrom (Ridott,IL/Freeport) [shot put], sophomore Aaron Walker (Seneca,IL/HS) [pole vault] and freshman Stephenie Schuler (El Paso,IL/HS), who placed third at 5'4" and attempted the provisional-qualifying height of 5'5" in the high jump.

The track and field teams will return to action this weekend at the Prairie Fire Invitational in Galesburg (Knox College). Track and field events both begin at 11:00 AM at the Fleming Fieldhouse. Both teams are defending MWC indoor and outdoor conference championship titles this spring. The men's program has won six consecutive MWC trophies while the women have captured four in a row.