April 6, 1998
FIGHTING SCOTS DOMINATE KNOX COED TRACK MEET
GALESBURG, IL -- The Monmouth College track and field program continued to show its trademark balance and depth against area competition last weekend, claiming the team title at Saturday's Knox College Invitational in Galesburg. The meet combined point totals from men's and women's events to determine the overall team champion and featured entries from 11 local colleges. Monmouth scored 339 points to dominate the field. Augustana finished second with 256 points and Illinois Wesleyan third at 185. The Scots won a total of 19 of the 40 events to secure the team victory.
Seniors Heather Furrow (Kirkwood,IL/Yorkwood) and Dennis Staggs (Farmington,IL/HS) each surpassed NCAA provisional-qualifying marks in individual events and the Monmouth women's 4x100 relay team also bettered the national-qualifying time. Furrow easily cruised to the 400-meter intermediate hurdle title (1:03.81) and also ran the second leg on the Scots' 4x100 relay, which won in 49.41 seconds. Stacy Brown (Barrington,IL/Lake Zurich), Constance Jackson (Peoria,IL/Woodruff), and Christy Keller (Crystal Lake,IL/Central) teamed with Furrow to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor National Meet. Staggs raced to victory in the 110-meter high hurdles in a season-best qualifying time of 14.87 seconds and later claimed the 400 hurdles in 58.19 seconds.
Seniors Tennille McClure (Taylor Ridge,IL/Rockridge) and Chris Sondgeroth (Pekin,IL/Erie) swept the shot put and discus throws for Monmouth. McClure claimed the women's shot (38'0") and discus (138'2") while Sondgeroth led a 1-2-3 Scots sweep in the men's shot with a season-best 52'0" toss and also added the discus title (139'1"). Monmouth also claimed a sweep of the top three spots in the women's 100 meters, with Brown's time of 12.68 seconds leading Jackson (12.71 seconds) and
Julie Larson (Oneida,IL/ ROWVA) (13.45) across the line. Larson also captured the long jump at 17'1" and took third in the triple jump.Jackson won the 200 meters (25.83) and f
reshman Justin Bryant (Knoxville,IL/HS) swept the men's sprints, claiming individual firsts in the 100 (11.43) and 200 (22.68) dashes. Frosh Tony Miles (Moline,IL/HS) captured the men's 1500 meters (4:18) and Monmouth's other first-place efforts came in the two coed relays as the quartet of Sherri Polk (St. Louis,MO/Pattonville), Ryan Clark (Cambridge,IL/HS), Gretchen Vandergriff (Wolcott,IN/Greenwood) and Jamie Nelson (Monmouth,IL/HS) won the distance medley and the team of James Amerison (Kansas City,MO/Center), Krissy Hosey (Burlington,IL/ Central), Toby Vallas (Knoxville,IL/HS) and Vandergriff claimed the sprint medley.Second-place efforts for the Monmouth women were posted by Carrie Knauer (Strawn,IL/Prairie Central) in the 3000 meters (11:06) and
Stephenie Schuler (El Paso,IL/HS) (5'3") in the high jump. Chris Ferron (Franklin Park,IL/East Leyden) (javelin), Bob Lindstrom (Ridott,IL/Freeport) (shot put), and Cort Mills (Little York,IL/Yorkwood) (high jump) all claimed field event seconds while Rich Johnson (Galesburg,IL/ HS) (400m), Joel Hagaman (Galva,IL/HS) (100m), Nelson (800) and Miles (5000) added seconds on the track.Monmouth travels south this weekend for the Washington University Invitational in St.
Louis, MO and will face some of its MWC competition at the Grinnell Invitational on March
18.
