MONMOUTH, Ill. – Swimmer Krysta Sparks (Montrose, Colo./Montrose)
was named Midwest Conference Co-Performer of the Week after the season’s
first full weekend.
Sparks – who shares the honor with Lake Forest’s
Becky Shaak – didn’t let a pair of dual meets on back-to-back days slow
her down. Over the span of 24 hours, the sophomore swam two Monmouth
honor roll times and set a new pool record. Sparks set the new Monmouth
pool record Friday against Knox while winning the 200-yard individual
medley (2:17.76). She also clocked a personal-best in the 100 backstroke
(1:08.38) and finished second. On Saturday, she swam another honor roll
time in the 200 IM (2:17.91) and narrowly missed her own pool record
while winning the event for the second straight day. Competing in the
100 breaststroke, Sparks swam another honor roll time (1:10.49) to win
her third event of the weekend.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Wide receiver Matt Shepherd (Leesburg,
Fla./Leesburg) exploded for three touchdowns in the Fighting Scots’
final regular season game and earned the Midwest Conference Performer of
the Week honor.
Shepherd scored three times as the Scots pulled
away for a 42-0 win over Knox in the 121st meeting between
the two teams. The junior caught a game-high 14 passes for 141 yards,
averaging over 10 yards per catch. His 948 receiving yards this season
broke the previous high-water mark of 911 set by Evan Haffner in 2004.
For the second consecutive year, the Fighting Scots
completed a 10-0 regular season, while winning their third Midwest
Conference title since 2005. They will be making their second straight
appearance in the NCAA Division III playoffs on Sat., Nov. 21.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Quarterback Alex Tanney (Lexington,
Ill./Lexington) picked up his third Midwest Conference Performer of the
Week honor after yet another record-breaking day in a 44-17 win over
Illinois College Saturday.
Tanney threw for a school-record 437 yards Saturday
to break the record of 405 yards he shared with his older brother,
Mitch. Alex, a junior, had tied the previous record his freshman year
against St. Norbert. He completed 33 of 46 passes with three touchdowns
and one interception against Illinois College for an efficiency rating
of 168.71. With more than a season left, he has thrown for a
school-record 9,346 yards and 110 TDs, including 36 scores and 3,044
yards this season.
The win clinched no worse than a tie for the
Midwest Conference title and guaranteed Monmouth their second
consecutive berth in the NCAA playoffs. It will be their third trip to
the playoffs since 2005.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Defensive end Anthony Goranson (Bartlett,
Ill./Belvidere) had one of his best games this season and earned this
week’s Midwest Conference Defensive Performer of the Week honor.
Goranson played a big role in shutting down the
Lake Forest offense in the Fighting Scots’ 51-14 win over the Foresters
Saturday. The senior stuffed the Foresters with eight tackles, including
4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks for 20 yards. For the season, he
leads the team with six sacks for 46 yards and 14.5 tackles for loss for
74 yards. He is tied for fifth with 40 total tackles and is just three
sacks from tying Greg Bennett’s career sack record of 34 set from
1987-90.
With the win, Monmouth maintained sole possession
of first place in the Midwest Conference.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Hitter Chelsey Widdop (Reynolds, Ill./Rockridge)
had an amazing five-match performance last week and earned her second
Midwest Conference Performer of the Week award in volleyball.
Widdop began the string in Monmouth’s 3-1 win over
conference rival Knox. The freshman slammed 18 kills on an amazing .425
percentage. She also added 17 digs. She ended last weekend’s Rhodes
Invitational with 13 and 14 kills in the Scots’ final two matches as
Monmouth completed the tournament 3-1 and finished the week 4-1. Over
the five matches, Widdop recorded 55 kills (2.89 kpg) with a .362
percentage. She also made 67 digs (3.53 dpg) and added 10 blocks while
serving up three aces.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Linebacker Marcus Ruff (Avon,
Ill./Bushnell-Prairie City) led the charge defensively in last week’s
35-13 win over Ripon and was named the Midwest Conference Defensive
Performer of the Week.
Ruff made an impact early as the Fighting Scots
took over sole possession of first place in the Midwest Conference. The
junior started the game with a bang, recovering a Red Hawk fumble at the
Ripon 16-yard line to set up Monmouth’s first score. Ruff when on to
record 16 tackles, including a team-high 12 solos, and broke up two
passes. His 16 tackles in the game was more than half his season total.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Two-sport athlete Amy Unzicker (Morton,
Ill./Morton) knocked off a Division II opponent to end a perfect week in
singles tennis and was rewarded with the Midwest Conference Performer of
the Week honor.
Unzicker, who also does duty with the Fighting Scots women’s soccer
team, focused on tennis for three matches last week and went 3-0 at No.
1 singles. The sophomore began the week with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Megan
Funk of Knox, she then outlasted Beloit’s Hannah Perwin 7-6 (11-9), 6-3
and finished the stretch with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Anele Novak of
Division II Quincy. Unzicker teamed with Kimi Wegner as the
Fighting Scots No. 1 doubles team and was 1-2 in that competition.
Unzicker and Wegner downed Knox 8-4, but fell to Beloit and Quincy by
identical 8-2 scores.
For the season, Unzicker is 9-4 overall at No. 1 singles and has won
seven of her last 10 matches.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Quarterback Alex Tanney (Lexington,
Ill./Lexington) had yet another record-setting performance last weekend
and picked up his second Midwest Conference Offensive Performer of the
Week award this season.
Tanney broke Rob Purlee’s career passing yardage record in a
52-24 win over previously unbeaten St. Norbert Saturday. The junior
threw for 361 yards to give him 8,188 passing yards in his career. With
a season-and-a-half remaining in his career, Tanney surpassed Purlee’s
mark of 8,017 yards set from 2000-03 as the Fighting Scots’ all-time
leader. He connected for five aerial scores to five different receivers
and completed 34-of-47 attempts (72 percent) with one interception to
finish the game with a pass efficiency rating of 167.71. Playing in his
28th career game, Tanney scored his first collegiate
touchdown on a quarterback sneak with 8:44 left in the third quarter to
put the Scots up 45-17.
For the year, Monmouth’s QB has completed over 70 percent of his passes
for 1,886 yards and 23 TDs with just two interceptions for a rating of
166.80.
Monmouth moved up to No. 11 in the D3football.com poll and stayed put at
No. 12 in the American Football Coaches Association rankings.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Leading from start-to-finish at last weekend’s Olde
English Classic Invitational in Beloit, Wis., resulted in Monmouth
College’s Mary Kate Beyer (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) and
Geoff Bird (Kenilworth, Ill.) earning this week’s Midwest Conference
Performer of the Week honor in women’s and men’s cross country,
respectively.
The Olde English course layout included jumps over straw bales and three
creek jumps, making for a slower course than the teams were accustomed
to. That didn’t seem to hurt Beyer or Bird who both finished just ahead
of a teammate.
Beyer clocked a 5,000-meter time of 19:43.8, setting a Monmouth record
for the course. Even with the slower course layout, Beyer’s time is the
seventh-fastest in the Midwest Conference for the 5K distance. She
finished nearly 30 seconds ahead of teammate Katie Staab in second
place, as the Fighting Scots took the women’s team title.
Bird completed the 8,000-meter course in 27:06.0, just ahead of teammate
Jon Welty and nearly 30 seconds ahead of his next competitor. Led by
Bird, Monmouth also won the men’s team title.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Freshman kicker Matt Batton (Peoria,
Ill./Richwoods) had a day to remember in Saturday’s 59-0 win over
Grinnell and earned his first Midwest Conference Special Teams Performer
of the Week honor.
Batton, a backup kicker, came on in the second half to handle the
kickoff chores and averaged more than 60-yards per kick, but the
highlight came on offense. Kicking into a rainy cross wind, Batton
nailed a school-record 51-yard field goal with 9:59 left in the fourth
quarter. The kick easily surpassed the 46-yard record of current
Fighting Scots kicking coach Nate Palkovic set in just two years ago.
Katie Fluegel
(Rockton, Ill./Hononegah) scored the game-tying goal in the Fighting
Scots’ 1-1 double-overtime tie with Grinnell in the Scots’ conference
opener and was named the Midwest Conference Offensive Performer of the
Week in women’s soccer.
Fluegel’s lone goal tied the game with perennial power
Grinnell in Monmouth’s conference opener on Saturday. Monmouth had never
beaten or tied Grinnell in 18 previous matches, but Fluegel’s goal in
the 61st minute changed all that. She made the most of her opportunity,
scoring on her only shot of the match. Fluegel has taken just six shots
all season and has put four of them on goal.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Senior golfer Lynsey Barnard (Pekin, Ill./Pekin)
had the best 36 holes of her season last weekend and was named the
Midwest Conference Performer of the Week for women’s golf.
Playing in the St. Ambrose Fighting Bee Classic,
Barnard finished tied for 14th in the field of 62. Playing on
two different courses didn’t adversely affect the Fighting Scots’ top
golfer. Saturday on the Glynns Creek Course in Parkview, Iowa, Barnard
fired a season-low 86. On Sunday’s final round at Emeis Golf Course in
Davenport, Iowa, she checked in with an 88 for a season-low 36-hole 174
total as the Scots carded a season-best 377-384-761.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Quarterback Alex Tanney (Lexington,
Ill./Lexington) broke the school’s career touchdown passing record in a
58-0 win over Beloit last week and picked up the Midwest Conference
Offensive Performer of the Week honor.
Tanney took just three minutes of Saturday’s game to set the Fighting
Scots career touchdown pass record. His 5-yard toss to Mike Blodgett
broke Rob Purlee’s career TD mark of 83 set from 2000-03. The score
capped an eight-play, 94-yard drive. The junior connected for two more
TDs on the day, giving him 86 for his career with more than a season and
a half to play. Tanney, who played just one series in the second half,
finished the game with 283 yards on 27-of-36 (75%) passing for a pass
efficiency rating of 168.53. It was Tanney’s third consecutive game this
season passing for 200-plus yards and the 14 straight overall.
MONMOUTH, Ill. – Monmouth College freshman Chelsey Widdop
(Reynolds, Ill./Rockridge) made quite a collegiate volleyball debut last
week and was named the season’s first Midwest Conference Performer of
the Week.
Through the Fighting Scots’ first four matches, Widdop – a 5-foot-9
hitter – is averaging 2.64 kills per set with a .286 percentage. She’s
also added in a team-high five sets by non-setters and leads the team
with six ace serves.
Widdop is also doing the job defensively. Her 54 digs ranks her second
on the team and her six blocks are third. She has either led, or tied
for the lead in kills in every match this season. At last weekend’s
Monmouth Invitational, Widdop recorded a career-high 12 kills with a
.440 percentage against Aurora. She was also named to the all-tournament
team.
