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Fighting Scots athletes have a
field day at Grinnell
Release Date: April 24, 2006
MONMOUTH, Ill. — Ever wonder how a
good player on the San Francisco Giants not named Barry Bonds feels?
Or how Scottie Pippen felt during the Chicago Bulls’ championship
era?
That overlooked feeling was a little like how it must have been for
Monmouth College’s Alex Stuart last week. At Western Illinois
University, Stuart did what only one man in Fighting Scots’ track
history had done when he recorded a triple jump of more than 47
feet. Only legendary Hall of Famer John Weatherly had gone farther.
But a few moments later, his teammate and good friend, Albert
Greene, became the first MC athlete to ever triple jump 48 feet, in
the process breaking Weatherly’s 75-year-old record.
Rather than turning “Greene” with envy, Stuart turned his game up a
notch at Saturday’s Dick Young Classic, placing ahead of Greene in
the triple jump (a runner-up 46’8) and turning in a personal-best
long jump of 21’10-1/4. Stuart also was strong out of the sand,
throwing the javelin a personal-best 187’9. He needs to add just
three inches to that distance to move into the national rankings
there, and his 47’3-3/4 triple jump at WIU is ranked sixth.
“What I told him at the meet was that I very pleased with his
consistency across the board,” said MC coach Roger Haynes. “He was
rushing back and forth between the javelin and the triple jump. He
had a very good performance at the site of the conference meet,
which was why we were there.”
Stuart wasn’t the only Fighting Scot to hurl objects long distances
at the Grinnell College-hosted event. Zach Wilson extended his
school-record hammer throw distance to 172’6 (which was also a meet
record), and he also had a PR of 51’9-1/4 in the shot put. Those
marks are ranked 15th and 14th in the nation, respectively, and were
both good for first place at the meet.
“That’s a pretty prestigious meet for him to get two firsts at,”
said Haynes. “It was a good weekend for him.”
A meet record was also surpassed by Peter Sprecher, who tied for
first in the pole vault by clearing 15’11.
“It’s nice when a 16-foot vault becomes commonplace,” said Haynes of
Sprecher, who has hit 15’11 or better in all four of the Scots’
outdoor meets so far.
On the women's side, Megan McKenna was the star as she set a school
record while winning the pole vault (11’1-3/4) and added a PR in the
triple jump (a runner-up 36’9-1/2). McKenna also had a strong
showing in the long jump, placing fourth (17’3-1/2). She is ranked
first in the Midwest Conference in two of the three events and is
just a half-inch behind the leader in the long jump.
Haynes was pleased with the performances of several Scots’ pole
vaulters, as Dane Justice (a personal-best 14’5-1/4), Jessica White
and Erin Degelman (a personal-best 10’2) all scored points.
On the day, Monmouth placed second out of 17 teams on the men’s
side, as the Scots’ total of 153.5 trailed only Nebraska Wesleyan’s
206. M’'s women were third with 109 points. The meet was won by
Nebraska Wesleyan (138) and Central was second with 125.5.
Another highlight of the meet came from Shannon Turczyn, who bested
the provisional time in the 100-meter hurdles with her second-place
time of 14.96.
“I think she’ll be quite a bit faster than that,” said Haynes,
looking ahead to some big meets in May.
Valerie Daves won the steeplechase (a PR of 12:11.76), Kila Cox
lowered her 400-meter dash time to 59.65 while placing second, Erin
Mann was runner-up in the 10,000-meter run (40:14.94) and Megan
Clennon took third in the high jump (5’1).
Although it received far less fanfare than when Greene topped
Weatherly a week ago, the second oldest track record at Monmouth was
broken at Grinnell. The women’s 4x800 squad of Abby Horneck, Liz
Sandoval, Sara Ingersoll and Daves lowered the 1984 standard by 18
seconds with a time of 10:17.31.
The 4x800 is not frequently run, and the eight times on the Scots’
honor roll in that event were all at least 10 years old. For the
record, Haynes himself now owns the oldest mark, which is his
javelin mark of 205’8 set in 1982.
Also scoring points for the Scots women were Jessica Dollins and
Ashley Widdop in the 100-meter dash; Cox in the 200-meter dash;
Ingersoll in the 800-meter run; Widdop in the 100-meter hurdles;
Turczyn in the 400-meter hurdles; Horneck in the steeplechase; and
Clennon in the javelin.
For the men, Tim Frank won the high jump, clearing 6’4-3/4, and Kel
Bond was second in the 800-meter run (1:54.07). Dante Daniels took
third in the 100-meter dash (10.90) and the 200-meter dash (22.06)
and Greene was third in the long jump (22’10) and triple jump
(45’3-1/2). Brothers Luke and Josh Reschke placed third and fourth
in the 400-meter dash and Scott Heiar and Tanner Scott added a 3-4
finish in the 10,000-meter run.
“Luke was really solid,” said Haynes, noting the freshman’s lowered
times in the 200- and 400-meter dashes, as well as his efforts on
two relays.
Other scorers included Aaron Etienne in the 5000-meter run; Seth
Leitner and Adam Rodriguez in the steeplechase; Jeff Rebholz in the
shot put; James Blair in the discus; Dane Justice in the pole vault;
and Evan Harrison in the high jump.
Men's Outdoor Track
| Women's
Outdoor Track
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