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Fighting Scots men win share of MWC cross
country title
Release Date: October 30, 2006
 MONMOUTH, Ill. — In the world of
cross country, Saturday’s Midwest Conference Championship Meet at
Minooka Park in Waukesha, Wis., was far from ordinary.
The standard for 19 of the past 20 years was a men’s meet victory
for Grinnell, but Monmouth College altered that trend grabbing a
share of the title for the first time since it won the outright
championship in 1996. The Fighting Scots and Pioneers each scored 36
points to finish as co-champions.
What was also unusual was that – for the first time since the
opening cross country meet of the 2005 season – Monmouth had
national champion steeplechase runner Zach Barr in its lineup. In
his first collegiate competition in nearly 14 months, Barr placed
eighth overall on the 8K course in 27:08. His presence gave a big
lift to a Monmouth team that had actually hoped to dethrone Grinnell
a season earlier.
The Pioneers’ Drake Bellew won the race in 25:41, and Grinnell also
had the No. 3 man. Monmouth’s Clay Staley and Kel Bond placed fourth
and fifth in 26:31 and 26:44, respectively, and Barr led a three-man
pack of Scots across the finish line, as Scott Heiar placed ninth
and Aaron Etienne took 10th.
Also earning all-conference finishes for Monmouth by placing in the
top 20 were Darin VanNattan and Brad Begyn, who were 13th and 19th,
respectively.
Monmouth’s women’s team took fifth at the meet, led by an
all-conference performance by Katie Staab, who covered the 5K course
in 21:00 to place 19th. Three Monmouth runners – Sara Ingersoll,
Valerie Daves and Taylor Froeliger – placed 26th through 28th, with
Ingersoll’s time of 21:16 leading the tightly-packed trio. Rounding
out Monmouth’s scorers was Joni Nelson in 34th place (21:35).
Men's Cross Country
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