MONMOUTH, Ill. — In current voting on the Monmouth College Web site to determine the top athletic moment in the school’s 150-year history, one of the leading vote-getters is the four Midwest Conference championships that were achieved on May 11, 2002.

“What Monmouth College accomplished this weekend could be the single most impressive performance by one institution in the Midwest Conference during one particular season,” said Chris Graham, the MWC’s assistant commissioner, at the time.

A year later, plenty of similarities are looming, right down to the forecast for very inclement weather on Saturday, which would be the second day of the two-day baseball, men’s golf and men’s and women’s outdoor track and field championships. A year ago, rain washed away the second day of competition in baseball and golf, while the conference track meet was able to continue between storms in Ripon, Wis.

Another similarity is home cooking. A year ago, the baseball team didn’t have to leave town to compete in their league playoffs, and this year, the track teams will have that luxury. Knox College is serving as the official track host, but the meet will be run at Monmouth College’s Bobby Woll Memorial Field. Friday’s action starts at 1 p.m., with the meet continuing Saturday at 11 a.m.

The baseball team will be at Ripon, Wis., while the golf meet will once again be held at Aldeen Golf Course in Rockford, Ill. A year ago, the Scots edged Knox by two strokes to unseat the eight-time defending champion, and close competition between the two arch-rivals is expected again.

Knox topped Monmouth by four strokes on Saturday, and the Prairie Fire have won the previous four 18-hole meetings by 8, 10, 3 and 7 strokes. Monmouth topped Knox by one stroke at Illinois Wesleyan on April 11 and six strokes at Augustana on April 4.

Coach Dave Ragone entertained a large crowd at last weekend’s M Club Awards Banquet, showing his “rah-rah” football coach side as he discussed his golf team.

“We don’t participate, we compete,” he stressed, energetically.

It’s a given that coach Roger Haynes’ track teams compete – after all, he’s guided MC track teams to 27 indoor and outdoor conference championships. His men’s teams have won two straight MWC outdoor titles and have won the meet 11 times since 1985, while Haynes is a perfect 3-for-3 in outdoor titles since taking over the women’s duties. The Monmouth women have won the meet seven times since 1993.

Although Monmouth captured a pair of championships at the league’s 2003 indoor meet, Haynes cautioned that “the outdoor meet is different, certainly, than the indoor meet. The combinations are very different, and some athletes might be able to do some things outdoors that they couldn’t do indoors.”

That being said, a lot would have to change on the men’s side. The Fighting Scots won the indoor meet by a staggering 149.5 points, so improvements from highly-regarded St. Norbert and up-and-coming Grinnell and Ripon would have to be pretty significant to catch Monmouth.

While there may not be team drama, there will certainly be individual battles, and the most anticipated will come from Monmouth’s Keenan King and St. Norbert’s Ben Dreyer in the 200-meter dash and the final leg of the 4x400 relay. At the indoor meet, King and Dreyer staged two battles for the ages, with Dreyer narrowly winning both.

King enters the meet ranked in the top 10 in the nation in a mind-boggling five events, with Dreyer ranked nationally in the 400-meter dash (second) and the 200-meter dash (10^th). In the MWC, King is top-ranked in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the pole vault, while Dreyer is the top seed in the 400-meter dash.

Other Scots ranked first in the conference are Zach Barr in the 1500-meter run and the steeplechase, Dontel Thomas in the 110-meter hurdles, Blake Boma in the 400-meter hurdles, Albert Greene in the triple jump and the 4x100 relay. Matt Hargleroad, who is ranked second in the 1500-, 5000- and 10,000-meter runs, hopes to make a run at a provisional time in the 10,000, and Haynes hopes Barr will challenge the steeplechase standard.

On the women’s side, top-ranked athletes include Jill Hoops in the 400-meter hurdles, Melissa Jones in the high jump, Kara Kuhrts in the long jump and triple jump and the 4x400 relay team. It will be interesting to see if All-American Tracy Nelson, who is top-ranked in the javelin, can throw a provisional distance and return to the national meet.

Haynes believes that Carroll will be joined by St. Norbert, Lawrence and Knox in challenging the Scots for the women’s title.

As far as running the meet on campus, “It’s both good and bad,” said Haynes, who noted that Monmouth will simultaneously be hosting its commencement weekend. “In the past, we’ve been able to leave that graduation stuff behind us. We’re going to have to deal with that, but we hope it will be an advantage to run on our own track.”

Last year, the baseball team enjoyed the friendly confines of Glasgow Field in a one-day tournament that failed to deliver the matchup that everyone was anticipating – Monmouth vs. Ripon. This year, with St. Norbert and Knox once again joining the four-team field, don’t bet on the Scots and the host Red Hawks failing to see each other at some point. It took a stunning upset by Knox and rain shower after rain shower to cause the teams to miss each other in 2002, and the odds of both of those things occurring again are slim.

If one had to bet, though, smart money is on the rain.

“We talked about that today in practice,” said MC coach Roger Sander. “Every game becomes more important. (In a one-day tournament) the first game is like a championship and the second game IS the championship.”

As was the case last year with Ryan Johnson and Joe Larkins, Sander has a great 1-2 punch to put on the mound. Seniors Beau Hellman (6-0, 1.24 ERA) and Toby Lannholm (4-2, 1.18) have been brilliant this season, and the pair are ranked eighth and sixth in the nation in ERA, respectively.

Hellman, who is also hitting .295 with 19 RBI, is enjoying a truly special season. Sander has nominated him for both the MWC South Division Pitcher and Player of the Year honors, and he seems like a lock to at least take the top pitcher honor.

Center fielder Jason Salmon is another nationally-ranked Scot, as his .452 average is good for 32nd in the country.

Ripon, however, is ranked as a team, as the Red Hawks 30-4 record currently has them fifth in the nation. The Red Hawks are the nation’s sixth-best hitting team (.365), and they boast the top Division III hitter in Nick Johnson (.552, 11 HR, 53 RBI), who is also 19th in homers per game and fifth in RBIs per game. Luke Hagel (.476) is 14th in hitting .476 and Nick Thoen (12 HRs) is ninth in homers per game. For good measure, the Red Hawks are also ranked eighth nationally in ERA (2.77).

“Ripon is very impressive on paper,” said Sander. “They’re a lot like Aurora was last year.”

Sander was referring to an AU team that entered NCAA regional play ranked third in the country and No. 1 in batting average. The Spartans, however, scored just one run in 18 innings against the Scots.

“It’s supposed to be a cold, rainy, windy weekend,” said Sander. “Normally, Ripon’s park is pitcher-friendly, but it depends which way the wind is blowing. You could say they’re the favorite because they’re ranked and because they’re home, but I think we’re the favorite. We won the championship last year and we’re still the champs until somebody beats us.”