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Scots track teams reload, seek
repeat of MWC title sweep
Release Date: January 20, 2006
MONMOUTH, Ill. — When we last left
the Monmouth College track teams, they had completed a dominating
sweep of the Midwest Conference Outdoor Championships at Bobby Woll
Memorial Field.
Besides gaudy winning margins of more than 100 points, what made
their championships even more impressive – and more intimidating for
their rivals – was that each team was losing only one senior.
Since that dominating weekend in May, a couple other competitors
have been lost, too, but for the soon-to-begin indoor track season,
coach Roger Haynes welcomes back most of his veterans along with yet
another stellar recruiting class.
“We’re excited to see how the mix of established older athletes and
newcomers will come together,” said Haynes, adding that the team
also has some veteran performers who are ready to emerge.
As always, Haynes wants to steer his team toward peak performances
at the MWC indoor meet (which will be hosted by Monmouth on March
3-4), but he also hopes to train his elite athletes with an eye on
qualifying for the national meet.
Two Fighting Scots who have a strong chance of reaching the NCAA
Indoor Championships on March 10-11 are junior Tyler Rundle and
senior Christina Reiner.
Rundle, who competed at last spring’s national outdoor meet, is an
All-American contender in the 400-meter dash, while Reiner hopes to
advance in the pole vault. At that year’s MWC indoor meet, Rundle
won the 200 and 400 and was part of three winning relays, while
Reiner claimed victories in the pole vault, high jump, long jump and
in the 4x200 relay.
“Tyler has made what I feel is a quality decision to focus on the
400,” said Haynes of the former Warren High School standout. “He had
a great fall of training. One of our standard workouts is ‘repeat
200s,’ and he’s pretty far ahead of where he was last year.”
Reiner, already the school record holder in the indoor pole vault at
10’10, would need to get in the 11’6 range to be an All-American
threat. She will be pushed by a group of vaulters that is the
deepest in the history of the program.
Besides Rundle and Reiner, other defending MWC indoor individual
champions for the Scots include juniors Tim Frank (high jump), Jeff
Rebholz (weight throw and shot put) and Alex Stuart (triple jump).
Back from winning relays in 2005 are senior Anthony Welty, juniors
Kel Bond and Bradley Franks and sophomore Brad Gross on the men’s
side and juniors Kila Cox and Jacquie Ouart and sophomore Megan
McKenna for the women.
Those athletes are clearly on the established veteran list, as are
senior jumper Albert Greene and the sophomore group of vaulter Peter
Sprecher, middle distance man Adam Rodriguez and thrower Jen Babos,
who all earned first-place finishes at the MWC outdoor meet.
Welty and Bond are the leaders of a strong nucleus of distance
runners that also includes junior Darin VanNattan and sophomores
Scott Heair, Aaron Etienne, Seth Leitner and Kyle Schierer.
“Our men’s distance group is in a position to cover all our bases in
every event and relay,” said Haynes. “We’ll be three-deep in every
event.”
The women’s distance group will be bolstered by the return of senior
Sara Ingersoll, and senior Erin Mann and juniors Abby Horneck and
Joni Nelson will also contribute.
Besides the returning champions in field events, Haynes is high on
throwers James Blair, Zach Wilson and Jessica Phillips, junior
hurdler Brandon Hurckes and sophomore Johnny Henkins, who might be
ready to vault, literally, to elite status in his event after a
great off-season of training.
Speaking of vaulters, Reiner will be challenged by a much-improved
McKenna, as well as junior Kelly Caruso, sophomore Jessica White and
Sherrard freshman Erin Degelman. The quintet forms an unprecedented
collection of Fighting Scots talent in that event.
Degelman is one of several newcomers who Haynes thinks will have an
impact on the women’s team. The others include sprinter Ashly
Lowdermilk (Princeton), middle distance runner Lizmeth Sandoval
(Highland Park) and a collection of sprinter/hurdlers including
Shannon Turczyn (LaSalle-Peru), Katey Vaccarello (Maine West),
Ashley Widdop (Rockridge) and Markie Bacon (Aledo).
“Sixteen-twenty-four was good for first in our conference last year
(in the 100-meter hurdles), and three of those newcomers (Bacon,
Turczyn and Widdop) ran 15.5 or better in high school,” noted
Haynes.
On the men’s side, Monmouth stocked up on sprinters, with Dante
Daniels (Gurnee-Warren), transfer Aaron Daverin (Herscher), Luke
Reschke (Geneseo), Jordan Slee (Quincy), Jake Stott (Coal City) and
Christopher Welty (Newman Catholic) all primed to make an impact.
Iowa All-State hurdler Nick Long, middle distance man Damon Bautista
(East Moline) and jumper/hurdler Sheridan Ray (Metamora) should also
contribute.
Other competitors on the men’s squad are seniors Sean Fitzgerald,
Evan Harrison, Dane Justice, Tanner Scott and James VanDyke, juniors
Nick DeFrancisco, Josh Reschke and Ken Stachorek, sophomores Hassan
Baqar, Chuck Lief, Tim Meredith and Emmanuel Minter and freshman
Dillon Fritsch (Cambridge).
Rounding out the women’s team are senior Amy Horneck, juniors Audrey
Bellefeuille, Dani Briceno, Lindsey Ditzler, Andrea Emery, Ashley
Gaul and Megan Hamilton sophomores Ashley Clegg, Megan Clennon,
Valerie Daves, Jessica Dollins and Carissa Young and freshmen Lauren
Firchau (Kaneland) and Kaile Schreiner (Newman Catholic).
Emery (high jump), Hamilton (4x100) and Horneck (triple jump) are
past MWC champions, while Daves was an All-MWC cross country
performer last fall.
Combined, 75 athletes are out for the sport, giving the Scots one of
their largest-ever squads.
“We’ve got a new view, a new philosophy this year,” said Haynes, who
will be assisted again by Brian Woodard, Dennis Staggs, Charlie
Sunderlage and Melissa Jones. “In the past, we’ve worked with
groups, but we’re making an effort to really individualize things
and take care of everybody well.
“Clearly,” added the coach, who has already led 36 conference
championship track teams, “the goal is to get more kids to the
national meet.”
Along the way, Monmouth will compete three times at the Huff
Athletic Center, beginning Jan. 28 at a meet that also includes
Augustana, Central, Knox, Illinois Wesleyan and Wartburg, the
women’s defending national champion. The season opens this Saturday
at a quadrangular meet hosted by Knox.
Men's Indoor Track
| Women's Indoor
Track
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