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Some Scots in late season form at
Wartburg Select on Saturday
Release Date: April 10, 2006
MONMOUTH, Ill. — Monmouth College’s
track athletes have until May 19 to turn in a national
meet-qualifying performance. Some Fighting Scots, however, are way
ahead of schedule, and if they can continue to progress throughout
the season, they will be legitimate threats to repeat the two
national championships won by Blake Boma and Zach Barr a year ago.
One case in point is Zach Wilson, who broke his one-week-old hammer
throw school record with a heave of 170’0 to place second at the
Wartburg Select in Waverly, Iowa, on Saturday. Wilson also won the
shot put (50’4-1/2).
“That was definitely a strong finish for Zach,” said MC coach Roger
Haynes. “He’s making real progress in all his events. For him and
some other athletes, now it’s a matter of learning to be competitive
in those types of fields, and he’s certainly doing that.”
Another case in point is sprinter Dante Daniels, who put his name
into the discussion as Monmouth’s fastest man after winning the
100-meter dash in a provisional-qualifying time of 10.80. Only five
MC sprinters in history have topped that time, including two
national champions. Daniels added a runner-up finish in the
200-meter dash, with his time of 21.84 edging third-place teammate
Tyler Rundle by .34 seconds.
“He’s really starting to show great improvement with his technique,”
said Haynes of the former Class AA state champion. “He’s progressing
into track shape. His winning time in the 100 was definitely not
wind-aided.”
Also contributing several points to the Scots’ second-place team
finish was Alex Stuart, who won the triple jump (45’9-3/4) and took
third in the javelin (176’11).
Monmouth added victories in two other field events, as Peter
Sprecher (16’0) won the pole vault and Sheridan Ray long jumped
22’5-3/4. Jonny Henkins also cleared 16’0 in the pole vault but had
more attempts than Sprecher and placed second.
“The pole vault didn’t finish up until about 7:15, and our guys had
been there all day since about 8:30,” said Haynes. “They beat some
All-Americans, so it was a good day for them.”
Before the season is over, it’s hard to imagine that Kel Bond won’t
beat the provisional-qualifying time in the 800-meter run. He just
missed the mark while winning the event Saturday in 1:53.84.
Also placing in the top three for the men were Albert Greene in the
triple jump (45’7-1/4), James Blair in the shot put (46’1-1/4) and
the 4x400 relay team of Daniels, Rundle, Josh Reschke and Luke
Reschke (3:18.59).
The men scored 150 points at the meet, a total that was only
exceeded by Wartburg’s 193.
On the women’s side, the majority of the Scots’ 58.5 points, which
was good for a fifth-place finish out of 11 schools, came in field
events. Christina Reiner was second in the high jump (5’1) and third
in the long jump (16’10-3/4) and Megan McKenna placed fourth in the
long jump (16’9-3/4), fifth in the triple jump (a personal-best
35’8) and sixth in the pole vault (10’8).
Also scoring in multiple events were Jen Babos, who placed fourth in
the shot put (40’5-1/2) and discus (128’2) and seventh in the hammer
(126’11), and Megan Clennon, who was fifth in the high jump (4’11)
and eighth in the javelin (107’1).
The rest of Monmouth’s individual points came from Shannon Turczyn
and Ashley Widdop in the 100-meter hurdles and Erin Mann in the
10,000-meter run.
Turczyn’s runner-up time of 15.09 was just off the provisional mark.
She was also a member of Monmouth’s 4x100 relay, which placed fourth
in 50.76 and also included Jessica Dollins, Kila Cox and Widdop.
The men’s 4x100 team of Brad Franks, Brad Gross, Rundle and Daniels
also scored, placing fourth in 42.75. The men’s other scorers at the
meet were Tim Frank in the high jump; Jeff Rebholz in the shot put
and hammer; Ray in the triple jump; Seth Leitner in the
steeplechase; Scott Heiar in the 10,000-meter run; Brandon Hurckes
in the 110-meter hurdles; Blair in the discus; Josh Reschke and Tim
Meredith in the 400-meter hurdles; and Nick DeFrancisco in the
javelin.
Monmouth returns to action Saturday at the Lee Calhoun Invitational
at Western Illinois University. The Scots do not have any home
outdoor meets this season, so the WIU meet will be their closest
appearance to Monmouth.
“There’ll be some Division I schools there,” said Haynes. “We want
to focus on one or two performances for each person, rather than
spreading them out a little more and trying to win the meet. We’re
about where we want to be at this point in time.”
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