MONMOUTH, Ill. — “Augustana Twilight” not only describes the time of day that Monmouth College’s most recent meet was run, but also the stage of the season in which it occurs.

Three Fighting Scots in the twilight of their collegiate careers had their final seasons extended just a little longer with great efforts at last Friday’s meet in Rock Island, which also goes by the name of Midwest Championships or Last Chance Qualifier.

Seniors Bryan Bittner, Ryan Moll and Ortez Davis have all lived to run another day, and so has the group’s teammate in the 4x400 relay, sophomore Blake Boma. The quartet trimmed an amazing five seconds off their time from the conference meet a week earlier, covering four laps around the track in 3:16.07 to grab the 15th and final spot for this weekend’s NCAA Division III National Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Decatur.

Moll got the race going with an exceptional lead lap of 47.7 and, after Davis and Bittner ran the next two laps, Boma closed things out with a 48.7 anchor leg that saw him pass a couple runners near the end. His strong finish lifted the Scots to second place in the elite six-team field.

As well as that relay team did, however, that wasn’t the highlight of the meet for the Scots. Bittner provided that thrill, breaking a 12-year-old school record and lowering his personal-best by well over two seconds in the 800-meter run. He won the event in 1:51.64 and is now the seventh-ranked runner in the nation at that distance.

“There was a strong runner there from Cornell (Ean Caskey), and that helped Bryan get out really fast,” said MC coach Roger Haynes. “He went out in 54 seconds for the first lap, when he would normally go out in 56 or 57 seconds. In the second lap, he continued to run well. It was actually a pretty amazing race.”

When the smoke had cleared (no, they didn’t have to hose down Bittner’s shoes, a la Maurice Greene), Bittner had edged Caskey by .20 seconds to win in 1:51.64. The previous record at Monmouth of 1:52.11 was set by All-American Jeff McCraven in 1992.

Bittner hopes to be able to put All-American in front of his name this weekend, and so do Monmouth’s 400-meter hurdlers, Davis and Boma. Although Boma entered the meet with the lower time, it was Davis who kicked in a strong finish and won the race in 52.4 seconds, taking a second off his best time and earning the No. 4 ranking in the nation. Boma also ran a PR of 53.0, and his No. 16 ranking nationally will also get him into the national meet, which is being hosted by Millkin University.

“It was definitely a good night,” said Haynes. “It was a strange night. The meet was almost cancelled because of bad weather. The atmospheric pressure has an unusual effect sometimes, and I think it did again on Friday.”

Several other Monmouth athletes competed at Augustana, and the next best finish was turned in by Kel Bond, who took third behind Bittner and Caskey in the 800-meter run with a PR of 1:55.07.

Monmouth’s other middle distance star, Zach Barr, failed to improve his time in the 1500-meter run, placing third in 3:58.26.

Thrower James Blair, long jumper Jason Killion and triple jumpers Alex Stuart, Ted Ross and Albert Greene also competed. In their final collegiate meets, Killion long jumped 21’4 and Ross triple jumped 42’11. Bond, Barr, Blair, Stuart and Greene will all be back next spring.