Fighting Scots dominant in MWC track sweep

Release Date: May 17, 2005

Monmouth College had six athletes earn Most Outstanding Performer honors at last weekend's Midwest Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The group includes three athletes who attended Warren County high schools. From left are Alex Stuart (Yorkwood), Christina Reiner, Brenda Herrera, Blake Boma, Tyler Rundle (Warren) and Zach Barr (Roseville).

MONMOUTH, Ill. — Monmouth College was the center of the Midwest Conference track world Friday and Saturday, hosting the 2005 MWC Championships. One couldn’t help but think after the event – both literally and figuratively – that it’s the Fighting Scots’ world, and the rest of the teams were just passing through.

Both the men and women stormed to decisive victories, in the process racking up a combined 20 first-place finishes out of a possible 40. The Scots added 21 runner-up efforts and took third nine times. Both teams established new school records for points at an MWC meet. The men racked up 299 to top runner-up St. Norbert by 179 points, while the women recorded 216 points to top their closest rival, Carroll, by more than 100.

“This was an outstanding day for our program,” Monmouth coach Roger Haynes told a reporter on Saturday. “The athletes have worked very hard to make this a special track program, and their performances today reflected the intensity of their effort.”

One competitor noted, “That team is so good, they should be in Division II, if not DI.”

He makes a good point. Zach Barr, for instance, would be ranked among the top 50 Division I competitors in the nation in the steeplechase. In the world of Division III track, though, he’s top-ranked nationally, and he blew away the field Saturday, winning in a conference-record time of 9:08.31.

“It was a pretty quality performance,” said Haynes of Barr’s race, which knocked four seconds off the record despite the fact that he had no one pushing him. “Based on that race, I’ve got a great deal of confidence for him at the national meet.”

On Friday, Barr topped another conference mark, winning the star-studded 1500-meter run in 3:53.06 to top a league record that had stood since 1981. It also bested the Fighting Scots’ record he set at last year’s conference meet by nearly two seconds.

“Our guys helped push the pace in the 1500,” said Haynes. “Zach’s always been a strong finisher, and I think this race showed him that he’s going to have to push the (finishing) pace from farther out at nationals.”

Barr, who is now ranked 11th nationally in the 1500-meter run, was one of six Fighting Scots to take home a Most Outstanding Performer honor from the meet. Joining him were Blake Boma, Tyler Rundle, Alex Stuart, Christina Reiner and Brenda Herrera.

Reiner was a central figure in one of the highlights for women’s team, which turned in an effort that impressed Haynes even more than the men’s 299 points.

“The women were actually closer to what we talk about in terms of having peak performances across the board,” said Haynes.

Entering the meet, Reiner was one of only two Monmouth women in history to clear 10’6 in the pole vault. That number doubled during the Scots’ 1-2-3 podium sweep, as Jessica White and Megan McKenna both made it over the bar at 10’6-1/4. White even took it up another notch, clearing the provisional height of 11’0-1/4 to place second to Reiner, who had the same height but accomplished it in fewer jumps. The MC vaulters are currently tied for 40th in the nation.

“It was a reflection of the attitude of the three girls and what they’re doing in their training,” said Haynes. “They all get along very well, and that makes for a great training environment.”

The pole vault was Reiner’s only win, but she was second in both the triple jump (35’2-1/2) and high jump (5’0-1/4) and third in the long jump (16’6-1/2).

The women’s other MOP, Herrera, was part of a return to the top for Monmouth’s women sprinters. While failing to win the 2004 outdoor title, the women didn’t win a single sprint race, but Herrera captured the 100-meter dash (12.32) and 200-meter dash (25.84) and was part of the winning 4x100 team with Kila Cox, Megan Hamilton and Reiner (49.19). Cox was second in the 400-meter dash with a PR of 59.40 and added a runner-up finish in the 200-meter dash (26.14). Hamilton was second in the 100-meter dash (12.66).

That block of points went a long way toward putting the women back on top of the MWC as the program earned its eighth victory in the past 10 seasons.

The men’s numbers are even more impressive, as they have won the last five outdoor meets and nine of the last 11. Monmouth failed to win the first outdoor track title of the millennium, but they are 10-for-10 since in indoor and outdoor meets combined. That means the seniors on the team have experienced nothing but success at MWC meets in their careers. Unfortunately for the rest of the conference, it’s a very short list, as only Boma will be lost to graduation. Only Laura Turk graduates from the women’s team.

In his final league meet, Boma went out on top, adding a victory in the 100-meter dash (10.78) to his expected triumph in the 400-meter hurdles (53.53). The times were a bit of a switch for Boma, as he ran a provisional time in the 100 but, due to very windy conditions, was not able to beat his season’s best in his specialty event, the hurdles.

Rundle ensured a sweep of the three dashes for the Scots by sprinting to victories in the 200 (21.76) and 400 (48.33). He, too, was hurt was by the wind and will now rely on a last chance qualifier meet on Friday to see if he can improve his national rankings, which stand at 16th in the 200 and 18th in the 400.

Lost in the Boma-Rundle buzz was an amazing weekend for sophomore Brad Franks. In his first MWC meet a year ago, Franks failed to score for the Scots in the 100- or 200-meter dash. This year, he ran the four fastest times of his life in the prelims and finals of the two races, taking second place in both with PRs of 10.89 and 22.42.

As a group, the Scots’ sprinters were predictably unstoppable, winning the 4x100 in 42.24 and the 4x400 in 3:20.01. Boma, Franks, Brad Gross and Rundle ran on the 4x100 squad and Adam Rodriguez and Kel Bond joined Boma and Gross in the other winning quartet.

Bond also fits into the overshadowed group, as he added a second-place finish in the 800-meter run (1:56.21) and was third in the 1500-meter run (3:57.17).

Entering the meet, Stuart was an unlikely MOP candidate, but he won the javelin in a career-best 183’2 and also edged teammate Albert Greene by less than an inch to win the triple jump (46’3-1/4). Chuck Lief (44’4-1/4) completed the Scots’ podium sweep in that event.

“Alex Stuart was a huge highlight,” said Haynes. “He’s been limited by an injury, but he felt it was the right thing to do to compete in the triple jump. And in the javelin, he’s made tremendous progress in the past four weeks.”

Other winners for the Scots included Jen Babos in the discus (127’8), Josh England in the 110-meter hurdles (15.43), Peter Sprecher in the pole vault (14’11-1/2), Greene in the long jump (22’4-1/2), Jeff Rebholz in the shot put (50’6-1/4) and Tim Frank in the high jump (6’4-1/4).

Besides Franks, another runner-up finisher for Monmouth who had a big meet was Tiffanie York. She posted school records in the 1500-meter run (4:51.17) and steeplechase (11:53.19).

“That’s not a bad weekend,” said Haynes.

Other seconds for the Scots came from Brandon Hurckes in the 110-meter hurdles (15.63), Anthony Welty in the 5000-meter run (15:22.44), Johnathan Henkins in the pole vault (14’11-1/2), Zach Wilson in the shot put (48’11), Evan Harrison in the high jump (6’2-1/4), Rebholz in the hammer (152’1) and the 4x400 team of Erica Barnett, Cox, Hamilton and Herrera (4:07.30).

Making appearances on the awards podium as third-place finishers were Brandy Whitson in the 100-meter hurdles (16.33), Jacquie Ouart in the 400-meter dash (1:00.65), Jessica Phillips in the shot put (38’5-1/2), Andrea Emery in the high jump (5’0-1/4), Barr in the 5000-meter run (15:46.44) and Nick DeFrancisco in the javelin (163’5).

Phillips, a freshman who had a PR by more than a foot-and-a-half, and her classmate, Megan Clennon, who didn’t medal but showed vast improvement in the javelin, were examples of what Haynes was referring to when he said, “We had many young people rise to the occasion.”

Haynes, who was named Coach of the Year for both the men and women, has now led the Fighting Scots to a total of 25 men’s indoor and outdoor titles in 22 years. He’s added 10 women’s titles since taking over the program in 2000.

“We talked after the meet,” Haynes said, “and part of what I told them concerned how pleased I was with how they helped out and allowed us to put on a good meet. I also thought they did a nice job of overcoming the distractions.”

The conversation didn’t end there.

“Saturday is done now. The things that happened in the meet are now part of history. I don’t want this to be a stopping point for them. If we’re still doing the same things a year from now in terms of performance, then we’re not doing our jobs.

“The future is very bright for this group.”

Men's Outdoor Track  |  Women's Outdoor Track