Led by Barr and Boma, five Scots will compete at national track meet

Release Date: May 24, 2005

Zach Barr

Blake Boma

MONMOUTH, Ill. — And then there were two.

At last weekend’s qualifier meet at Augustana, Monmouth College’s Blake Boma became the second Fighting Scot to post a number one time in the nation. He won the 400-meter hurdles in 52.04 and will join teammate Zach Barr as a top-ranked competitor at the NCAA Division III National Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday in Waverly, Iowa.

Earlier this month, Barr shattered the school record in the steeplechase and posted the only sub-9:00 time in Division III. His mark of 8:56.40 remains five seconds ahead of the closest competitor, Aaron Hollingshead of Willamette University.

Both athletes would love to add the title of “National Champion” to the All-American honors they already own. A year ago, Boma placed third at the national outdoor meet in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 52:02, while Barr earned his All-American honor at last fall’s national cross country meet.

Having the top times in their respective events is nice, said MC coach Roger Haynes, but it doesn’t make Boma and Barr a lock to join Eric Ealy (1986 high jump) and Charles Burton (1992 400-meter hurdles) as national track champions from Monmouth College.

“I’ve found that the top ranking doesn’t have a great deal to do with what will actually happen,” said Haynes. “It’s really a meet unto itself.”

Haynes recalls only one other Fighting Scot individual holding the top ranking entering a national meet. In 1996, high jumper Shawn Maze had cleared 7’0, but he was injured at the time of indoor nationals and wasn’t able to perform at his best.

“All I’ve talked about to both of them is error-avoidance and race management,” said Haynes. “In both of their events, the farther they can get into the race without having made mistakes, the better their chances are. I’ve done some research, and Zach should have more speed than the other top guys in his event, who are all longer distance runners. If he’s in it with three laps to go, he should have a very good chance.”

In order to give Barr the best possible opportunity, Haynes is holding the junior out of the 1500-meter run, an event in which he has also qualified. Barr finished first in the 1500 at Augustana in 3:53.47.

“Nobody else in the steeplechase is doubling events,” said Haynes. “We don’t want to take any bullets out of his gun.”

The steeplechase does not have a preliminary heat. The final will be held at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Boma is also a good finisher and traditionally does well clearing the second half of the 10 hurdles in his specialty event.

“Blake needs to run clean early on, and if he does, I think he’ll be in great position,” said Haynes. “He’s one of the strongest – if not the strongest – competitors over the last four or five hurdles.”

Unlike Barr, Boma will double up, running twice in preliminaries on Thursday. His 400-meter heat is set for 4:20 p.m., and he will be joined by Tyler Rundle, Brad Gross and Kel Bond in the 4x400 three hours later.

The relay quartet punched their ticket to nationals with a great effort in a strong field at Augustana on Friday. Led by Rundle’s lead leg of 47.8 and Gross’ personal-best of 48.6, the Monmouth group placed fourth in 3:14.65, which was their best time of the year by more than five seconds.

“They can still run faster,” said Haynes of the 12th-ranked group. “Their target time is in the mid-3:13s. That’s certainly within their capability.”

Rundle will actually be tripling up at nationals. He knew over the weekend that he had made the 200-meter dash field, and he learned Monday night that he had also qualified in the 400-meter dash. He is ranked 16th and 17th, respectively, in those events.

Besides the national qualifiers, two throwers provided highlights at the Augustana meet. Jen Babos won the discus with a provisional throw of 136’2 and Alex Stuart took the javelin with a throw of 183’1.

Bond also “ran extremely well” (1:53.55) while winning the 800-meter run, but his best time of 1:53.51 was less than a second off making the 16-competitor national field.

Other athletes who reached provisional marks this spring for the Scots but will not be competing in those events at nationals include Boma in the 100-meter dash, Jeff Rebholz in the shot put, Albert Greene and Stuart in the triple jump, Tim Frank in the high jump, Brenda Herrera in the 100-meter dash and Christina Reiner and Jessica White in the pole vault.

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