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MC’s Greene topples 75-year-old
mark to lead string of great performances
Release Date: April 18, 2006
 MONMOUTH,
Ill. — The last time the triple jump record was broken at Monmouth
College, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had yet to serve any of his four
terms as president, and no one in the track and field world had ever
heard of Jesse Owens, much less Carl Lewis.
In 1931, John Weatherly, who would later earn a spot on the 1932
U.S. Olympic team as an alternate, triple jumped 47’7-3/4. Through
three-quarters of a century, that mark has stood the test of time,
but time – and Fighting Scots senior Albert Greene – finally caught
up Saturday at the Lee Calhoun Memorial Meet at Western Illinois
University.
“That was the goal right when I got recruited,” said Greene of
reaching the oldest record in MC track history. “I wanted to do it
my freshman year, and every year since. It’s been a long time
coming.”
If not for a foul, Greene thinks the historic mark might have fallen
one jump earlier.
“That’s probably the best jump I ever had in my life,” he said of
the fouled attempt. “Everything felt right.”
Greene said he was motivated by the performance of his teammate and
good friend, Alex Stuart, who earlier in the meet had become the
only Scot other than Weatherly to triple jump 47’0.
“Alex put up a really big jump, and I really feed off of things like
that,” said Greene, who also turned in a collegiate best in the long
jump on Saturday with a winning mark of 23’0.
As he soared through the air on his record-breaking triple jump,
Greene had no idea of the history he was making.
“I had no clue, actually,” he said. “I felt a little hunched over.
But when I landed, and I looked to where I was in the sand, I
thought maybe. I knew that 14.33 (meters) was 47’0, so when they
stretched the tape past that, I knew it was good, and when it
stretched to 14.60, I just took off running. I almost knocked over a
distance guy that was running a race.”
The tape stretched all the way out to 14.69 meters, or 48’2-1/2.
Technically, it wasn’t the winning jump, as a WIU athlete went two
centimeters further. But Greene can live with that, for now.
“I was talking to my dad over the weekend, and I told him that if I
can get my steps down, I want to go 50 feet. That might sound a
little crazy, but I really think it’s possible.”
MC coach Roger Haynes agreed that Greene’s focus needs to be on the
future.
“It’s a prestigious record,” said Haynes. “Weatherly was a two-time
Drake Relays champion and Olympic alternate. The record lasted a
long time because it was such a quality record. What I told Albert
was that this needs to happen again at the conference meet or at
nationals. What’s to come is even more important than breaking the
record.”
Greene, who has posted provisional marks before but not competed at
nationals, is thinking of one other number besides “50.” That number
is “1,” as in No. 1 in the nation.
“I think I’m definitely in (to the national meet) with that jump,”
said Greene. “Now I want to win nationals.”
His dream is not far-fetched, as his record-breaking jump moved him
into second place among all Division III triple jumpers, less than
five inches behind the leader.
Besides Greene’s and Stuart’s success, there were a lot of other big
MC moments on Saturday, a fact that was not lost on Greene.
“I was really proud of how we did as a team, especially in the field
events,” said Greene, alluding to a string of nationally-ranked
performances by other Fighting Scots.
Two high jumpers moved into the top 10 in the nation as Tim Frank
cleared 6’8-3/4 and Christina Reiner jumped 5’6. Both are
personal-best heights and put Reiner second nationally and Frank
seventh.
Peter Sprecher also defied gravity, recording his best-ever pole
vault of 16’2-3/4 to win the event and move into second nationally,
just two inches behind the top-ranked vaulter. Teammate Jonny
Henkins, who is ranked fourth nationally, placed second to Sprecher
at 15’7.
Zach Wilson, who is in the nation’s top 20 in the hammer, won that
event with a throw of 167’1, but he made his biggest step in the
shot put with a personal-best provisional-qualifying distance of
51’8-1/4. He is now ranked 12th in that event, and he added a
fifth-place discus throw of 35’10.
Another thrower, Tanesha Hughes, had a breakout meet, establishing
PRs in the discus (127’0), hammer (108’3) and shot put (35’8-1/2),
while teammate Jenny Babos had personal bests in the hammer (134’0)
and shot put (39’5).
Megan McKenna had the final field event PR, going 35’10 in the
triple jump to place third.
On the track, the biggest news of the day was turned in by Dante
Daniels, who posted a provisional time of 21.80 while winning the
200-meter dash ahead of second-place Tyler Rundle (21.93).
“Dante was pretty amazing,” said Haynes. “He ran extremely fast.”
Together, he and Rundle were part of three strong relay
performances. Daniels’ 47.5 lead leg sparked the 4x400 squad to a
provisional-qualifying time of 3:16.01, with Josh Reschke and Luke
Reschke making up the other half of the team. The 4x100 group of
Brad Franks, Brad Gross, Rundle and Daniels just missed a
provisional time while placing second to Illinois State in 42.13,
and the same quartet won the 4x200 in 1:27.86, topping teams from
Chicago State and Western Illinois.
For the meet, Monmouth’s men scored 219 points to top the host
Leathernecks by 31. Rounding out the field were Illinois State,
Chicago State, Memphis, Knox and Lincoln. The Fighting Scots women
were third, just eight points behind runner-up ISU.
Other track highlights included victories for Kel Bond in the
1500-meter run (4:03.21) and Anthony Welty in the 3000-meter run
(9:00.85). The Scots placed 1-2-3-4 in the 1500, with Aaron Etienne
recording a PR with his runner-up time of 4:05.40. Also, Kyle
Schierer was second in the steeplechase (10:13.83)
Top women’s efforts on the oval included a pair of strong efforts by
Kila Cox in the 200-meter dash (26.67) and the 400-meter dash (a
second-place time of 1:00.03). Sara Ingersoll added a PR in the
1500-meter run (4:55.28).
This weekend, the Scots will run at the Dick Young Classic hosted by
Grinnell College.
Men's Outdoor Track
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