MONMOUTH,IL --- The Monmouth College men’s and women’s track program continued its dominance in Midwest Conference action last weekend, claiming both team titles at the 1998 MWC Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The meet was hosted by St. Norbert College and run at DePere High School in DePere, Wisconsin. The championships marked the fourth consecutive outdoor title for the men’s team and the third straight for the women’s program and it also was the third consecutive indoor/outdoor season sweep for Monmouth. The Fighting Scots have won the last 12 combined conference championship trophies (3 indoor and 3 outdoor for both men and women) and the men’s team has claimed 9 of the last 13 MWC outdoor trophies.

  Seniors Dennis Staggs (Farmington,IL/HS) and Stacy Brown (Barrington,IL/ Lake Zurich) each won two races on the track and wrote their names in the league record books. Staggs erased the MWC mark of former Fighting Scot great Charles Burton in the 110-meter high hurdles with a new conference record time of 14.60 seconds. It was also an NCAA Nationals automatic-qualifying time for Staggs, who later claimed the 400-meter intermediate hurdles in 55.36 seconds and ran a leg on the Scots’ second-place 4x100 relay. Brown smoked the track for a new MWC record in the 200 meters at 24.86 seconds, the first-ever sub-25 second clocking in league history. Brown had earlier captured gold in the 100 meters with a time of 12.04 seconds and both times were fast enough to automatically qualify the senior sprinter for the NCAA Nationals.

Senior Heather Furrow (Kirkwood,IL/Yorkwood) also was a double individual winner for Monmouth as she sped to victory in the 400-meter hurdles (1:04.16) and the open 400 meters (57.84). Brown and Furrow joined with freshman Constance Jackson (Peoria, IL/Woodruff) and junior Christy Keller (Crystal Lake,IL/Central) to win the 4x100 relay (49.33) and Furrow, Keller, Jackson and freshman Krissy Hosey (Burlington,IL/Central) combined to claim a five-second victory in the 4x400 (4:07.17). Monmouth also won the men’s 4x400 (3:24.37) with seniors Toby Vallas (Knoxville,IL/HS) and David Kimber (Dolton, IL/St. Rita), sophomore Rich Johnson (Galesburg,IL/HS) and freshman Justin Bryant (Knoxville,IL/HS) to make it three out of four relay wins.

Jackson and Bryant rounded out a terrific weekend for the Monmouth sprint corps as each qualified for Nationals in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Jackson placed second behind Brown in each race, posting season PR times of 12.24 and 25.04 seconds, the latter lowering her MC freshman record by two-tenths of a second. Bryant also claimed two second-place finishes, earning NCAA provisional times in the 100 finals (10.81) and the 200 prelims (21.75). Vallas and Johnson each placed in both the 200 and 400 dashes and senior Joel Hagaman (Galva,IL/HS) took fifth in the 100 (11.04). Junior Sherri Polk (St. Louis,MO/ Pattonville) finished second to Furrow in the 400-meter hurdles in a career-best time of 1:08.72.

The Fighting Scots also received outstanding performances in the throwing events, especially from their seniors. Tennille McClure (Taylor Ridge,IL/Rockridge) won her third straight MWC discus title (140'4") and placed second in the shot put (40'2") while Jim Hardesty (Canton,IL/HS) claimed the men’s discus (155'6") and Chris Sondgeroth (Pekin,IL/Erie) won the shot (53'2"). Junior Amanda Colgan (Galva,IL/HS) was runner-up in the javelin with a lifetime-best 129'4" throw and freshman Eric Holmes (Victoria,IL/ ROWVA) and senior Bob Lindstrom (Ridott,IL/Freeport) finished second and third in the shot put to complete a Monmouth sweep in the event. Freshman Vanessa Armstrong (Peoria,IL/HS) threw a lifetime-best of 36'7½" to place fifth in the women’s shot put.

Monmouth also received solid performances in the distance events. Senior Rita McQuinn (Mason City,IL/Illini Central) placed second in the 10,000 meters (41:38.45) and 7th at 5000 (19:47.40) and classmate Carrie Knauer (Strawn,IL/Prairie Central) finished 3rd in the 5000 (19:06.49) and 6th in the 3000 (11:09.06). On the men’s side Frank Schweda (Rolling Meadows,IL/HS) ran 4th at 1500 meters (4:04.90) on Friday and returned on Saturday to finish 3rd at 800 meters (1:58.42) and 4th at 5000 meters (16:17.71). Tony Miles (Moline,IL/HS) also scored in three events on the track as the freshman distance runner placed 4th in the 3000-meter steeplechase and 8th at both 1500 and 5000 meters.

For their individual efforts and accomplishments several Monmouth athletes were named as meet MVPs. Heather Furrow and Stacy Brown shared female track athlete honors and Tennille McClure was named as the female field athlete MVP. Dennis Staggs shared track athlete MVP honors on the men’s side.