May 3, 1998

FIVE NATIONAL QUALIFIERS HIGHLIGHT MISSOURI TRACK MEET

MONMOUTH,IL --- Monmouth College added one new name to its list of 1998 NCAA national qualifiers and four other Fighting Scot athletes improved on previous qualifying marks to headline the track and field teams' performance at Saturday's University of Missouri Invitational in Columbia, Missouri. The non-scored meet was Monmouth's final regular-season competition prior to next weekend's Midwest Conference Outdoor Championships and gave the Scots an opportunity to tune up for the conference meet against such outstanding NCAA Division I and NAIA teams as Missouri, Kansas State, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Drake, Lindenwood and McKendree.

Senior Heather Furrow (Kirkwood,IL/Yorkwood), who has already qualified for Nationals in the 400m hurdles, ran a provisional-qualifying time of 57.66 seconds in the 400-meter dash to place second overall, the highest individual finish by a Monmouth athlete in the meet. Freshman Constance Jackson (Peoria,IL/Woodruff), who finished fourth in the 400 (59.16), established a new team record in the 200-meter dash. Her time of 25.25 seconds placed her fifth and bettered Christy Hickey's year-old mark by .01 seconds. Another of the team's outstanding sprinters, Stacy Brown (Barrington,IL/Lake Zurich), improved her nationals time in the 100 meters, clocking 12.36 seconds in her preliminary heat before finishing 8th (12.52) in the finals.

1997 All-American Chris Sondgeroth (Erie,IL/Pekin) also improved his automatic-qualifier status in the men's shot put with a fourth-place effort of 54'0", a season-best by one foot. Senior Dennis Staggs (Farmington,IL/HS) placed 5th in the 110-meter high hurdles (14.94) after winning his prelim heat in a season-best 14.81, also an improvement on his previous nationals time.

Seniors Frank Schweda (Rolling Meadows,IL/HS), Rita McQuinn (Mason City,IL/Illini Central) and Carrie Knauer (Strawn,IL/Prairie Central) led the Scots' distance runners on the track. Schweda and McQuinn posted lifetime outdoor PRs in the men's 1500 meters (4:03.65) and women's 3000 meters (11:20.81), respectively, while Knauer came within .03 seconds of her three-week-old school record in the 5000 meters (18:36.53).

Freshman Justin Bryant (Knoxville,IL/HS) posted the Scots' fastest time of the season in the 400 meters at 49.36 to place 3rd in the unseeded final and 7th overall. Classmate Cort Mills (Little York, IL/Yorkwood) cleared 6'8" in the high jump for the third time this season and senior Jeromy Hogan (Virden, IL/HS) improved his season-best to 6'6". Tennille McClure (Taylor Ridge,IL/Rockridge) advanced to the finals and placed 8th in both the shot put (40'1") and the discus (139'4") and Jim Hardesty (Canton,IL/HS) finished 8th in the men's discus at 156'5". Sondgeroth placed 9th in the discus (145'6") as did Amanda Colgan (Galva,IL/HS) in the javelin (116'11") to just miss advancing to the finals in those events.

Monmouth will travel this weekend to DePere, Wisconsin as St. Norbert College plays host for the 1998 MWC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Monmouth has won three straight men's outdoor team titles and the women have captured the last two league titles. The program will be shooting for its third consecutive season sweep of the MWC men's and women's indoor and outdoor team championships.