April 23, 1998
SCOTS CAPTURE PAIR OF SECONDS AT GRINNELL TRACK INVITATIONAL
GRINNELL, IA -- The Monmouth College track and field teams traveled to Grinnell, Iowa last weekend and returned with a pair of second-place team finishes at the Grinnell Midwestern Classic track meet. The invitational meet included teams from 19 colleges from Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado.
Monmouth scored 96 points to trail only team champion Nebraska Wesleyan’s total of 181 in the men’s division. Coe (78) and Central (57) finished third and fourth. NWU also won the women’s team title with 162 points, which placed them well ahead of Monmouth (75) and Graceland (64).
The Fighting Scots won three relays and three individual events on the day. Seniors Jim Hardesty (Canton,IL/HS) and Heather Furrow (Kirkwood,IL/Yorkwood) and sophomore Brian Houzenga (Fulton, IL/HS) continued their fine seasons with first-place efforts for Monmouth. Hardesty shattered the meet record in the men’s discus by over six feet and qualified for the NCAA Outdoor National Meet with a throw of 166'4". The distance currently stands as the fourth-best in Division III this spring and is Hardesty’s career best by eight feet. Furrow captured the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 1:03.36 while Houzenga raced to victory in the 200 meters with a time of 22.01 seconds.
Houzenga also ran anchor on both of Monmouth’s first-place men’s relay efforts. He teamed with Toby Vallas (Knoxville,IL/HS),
Justin Bryant (Knoxville,IL/HS) and Rich Johnson (Galesburg,IL/HS) for a school-record time of 1:27.26 in the 4x200 and an NCAA-provisional qualifying effort of 3:16.97 in the 4x400. The women’s 4x200 unit was also a winner, with Furrow joining Stacy Brown (Barrington,IL/Lake Zurich) and freshmen Constance Jackson (Peoria,IL/Woodruff) and Krissy Hosey (Burlington,IL/ Central) to claim victory in a time of 1:43.47.Senior Tennille McClure (Taylor Ridge,IL/Rockridge) finished second in the women’s discus with a season-best 145'0" toss and bettered the automatic standard to secure her second trip to the National Meet. Jackson was one of two Monmouth freshmen athletes to reach NCAA provisional standards as the Peoria native posted a time of 25.42 seconds in the 200 to earn second-place team points.
Stephenie Schuler (El Paso,IL/HS) also earned a provisional berth for the NCAA Outdoor Nationals with a clearance of 5'4½" in the high jump.The Scots earned seconds in five other events, led by a school-record effort in the women’s 10,000 meters by senior Carrie Knauer (Strawn,IL/Prairie Central). Knauer ran 39:20.66 to slice over a full minute off the previous record in her first attempt at the distance and became the first MC female to break 40 minutes.
Amanda Colgan (Galva,IL/ HS) finished second in the javelin (123'0") with a season-best effort, as did the women’s 4x400 relay team of Furrow, Jackson, Christy Keller (Crystal Lake,IL/Central) and Gretchen Vandergriff (Wolcott,IN/Greenwood) (4:02.12). Monmouth received men’s runner-up places from Chris Sondgeroth (Pekin,IL/Erie) [51'11", shot put] and Dennis Staggs (Farmington,IL/HS) [15.11, 110m hurdles]. Third-place points were earned by Brown in the 100 dash (12.51), Aaron Walker (Seneca,IL/HS) in the pole vault (13'6") and Cort Mills (Little York,IL/Yorkwood) in the high jump (6'6").Monmouth will host two small meets at home on Bobby Woll Field on Saturday, April 25 and Tuesday, April 28 in preparation for the MWC Outdoor Track Championships in Green Bay, Wisconsin on May 8-9.
