Haynes says pack times are key for his MC cross country teams

Release Date: September 14, 2005

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Monmouth College coach Roger Haynes has built a Fighting Scots dynasty in indoor and outdoor track and field. The same thing hasn’t happened yet in cross country, but clear progress is being made.

A year ago, Monmouth’s men were second in the Midwest Conference, and the men’s and women’s program produced a total of five All-MWC runners, including two who finished in the top five. Do the Scots have enough talent remaining to be successful again?

“Any time we talk about the success of our program, we’re basing that on our individual improvement from season to season,” said Haynes, who took over both programs in 2000. “We want to tighten our times between our No. 1 and No. 5 runners and also between Nos. 1-7. On the men’s side, we have some talent in the front, but we need our other runners to contribute to do well as a team. For the women, the talent is more balanced, but if they can run well together, they can beat some teams.”

The new leader of the men’s team is senior Anthony Welty, who is coming off an outstanding summer as opposed to last year, when he was coming off an injury. Welty recovered well enough last fall to place eighth in the MWC, and he will be the No. 4 returning runner at the league meet this year. He ran a very strong race last Friday at Peoria’s Detweiller Park, covering the tough 6K course in 26:47 against a field made up primarily of Division I competition.

Two other runners who will try to repeat their All-MWC honors from a year ago are junior Kel Bond and sophomore Scott Heair.

“Kel has shown the most improvement so far,” said Haynes. “We’ll have to see how it translates at meets.”

Heair, one of the league’s top freshmen a year ago, has been called “the next guy, clearly,” by Haynes, who was referring to the leadership of the Monmouth program in seasons to come. The veteran Monmouth coach also noted that the former Sherrard runner “is a grinder. He’s right after it all the time. What we try to stress to him is that he doesn’t have to be a home run hitter all the time. We need him to be a clutch hitter for us and have his best races at the end of the year.”

Junior Darin VanNattan is hoping his return from injury goes as smoothly as Welty’s did, and Haynes said there’s a good chance it will.

“I like where he’s at right now,” he said. “We have high hopes for Darin as the season wears on.”

A year ago, junior Aaron Etienne was just off all-conference pace at the MWC meet, and Haynes said Etienne has only improved his chances of reaching that goal this year after a “very good spring in track and a good summer.” Haynes added that it will be Etienne’s responsibility, along with Van Nattan’s and Heair’s, to tighten up Monmouth’s pack of runners.

Also expected to contribute to the varsity scores during the year are freshman Damon Bautista, an All-State relay performer for East Moline last year, and sophomore Kyle Schierer, who “has shown some definite improvement.”

Rounding out the squad are seniors Sean Fitzgerald and Tanner Scott, juniors Ken Stachorek and Adam Rodriguez and sophomores Matt Henning and Seth Leitner.

The women’s team added a few more newcomers than the men, and one of them, freshman Kaile Schreiner, has led the Scots in each of their first two meets.

“Kaile was a state qualifier in the two-mile run,” said Haynes of the product of Newman Central Catholic, which is also Welty’s alma mater. “I look at her as the female version of Anthony. She’s from the same school, and she’s very involved in what we’re doing.”

The female version of VanNattan would be junior Sara Ingersoll, who is returning from a foot injury, while junior Kila Cox, another newcomer, might match up best with Bond. In track, Bond is one of the Scots’ speediest distance runners, and Cox has run legs on four MWC champion relay teams in the first half of her career. With continued work in her new sport, Cox could challenge Schreiner for the team’s top spot by the end of the year.

Haynes also has a group of women who will have similar responsibilities to the “pack-tightening” duties for the men. Senior Erin Mann, juniors Ashley Gaul and Carissa Young and sophomore Valerie Daves, another newcomer, will all be counted on to stay within range of Schreiner, Cox and Monmouth’s likely No. 2 runner, junior Joni Nelson.

“Joni really did well in the preseason,” noted Haynes of the Yorkwood product, who finished fourth for the Scots in their season-opening meet. At the evnt, the Scots had a 1-7 pack time of 1:38.

Rounding out the squad are juniors Kelly Caruso and Christina Moll and freshmen Alisha Zilch and Brittany Story. Zilch was the Scots’ No. 5 runner at Peoria. Juniors Audrey Bellefeuille and Dani Briceno might join the team after the completion of the women’s soccer season. Bellefeuille scored at last year’s MWC meet.

At Peoria on Friday, Haynes said he “thought the women ran very well, both individually and as a group. We had three under 22 minutes, and our 1-5 time was just barely over a minute (1:06). That has to be the strength of that group.

“This is not a championship team since we don’t have those one or two athletes who will run in front at the conference meet,” added Haynes, “but it’s a good team. It will be our ability to run as a team that will lead to the successes we’ll have.”

The men’s strong chances to improve on last year’s runner-up finish were certainly hurt by an injury to All-American Zach Barr, but Haynes is still left with a veteran group that hopes to challenge for the MWC title.

With Barr winning the race, the Scots defeated Western Illinois University and tied Illinois State University in their season-opener at WIU. In Welty, they do possess at least one more athlete who can run at the front of the pack, as he currently holds the top 6K time in the MWC. If enough Scots join him there, Monmouth can certainly run with most of the small school competition they’ll see this fall.

Men's Cross Country  |  Women's Cross Country