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MC’s Greene, Stuart, Turczyn,
Henkins are All-Americans
Release Date: May 30, 2006
MONMOUTH, Ill. — In a Fighting
Scots’ outdoor track season that is likely to be remembered as “The
Year of the Triple Jump,” Monmouth College senior Albert Greene
saved his best for last.
Earlier this season, Greene and teammate Alex Stuart both bested the
college’s 75-year-old triple jump mark. They both had their eyes on
All-American honors at the Division III Outdoor Track and Field
Championships at Lisle, Ill., on Saturday, and Greene accomplished
the feat in dramatic fashion.
With one jump remaining in his college career, Greene was in a jam.
He had qualified for the finals, but his meet-best effort of 46’11
would not be good enough to place him in the top eight. In addition,
his approaches in the finals had been off, resulting in fouls on his
first two attempts.
But on his third and final try, Greene soared 48’10-1/4 to break his
own school record and move up to third in the competition. Fred
Jones of Tufts University had the winning mark, flying 49’7.
Monmouth coach Roger Haynes refers to his track athletes hitting
“home runs in the bottom of the ninth” when they come up with clutch
performances, and Greene’s big moment was one for the ages.
“What he did was pretty remarkable,” said Haynes. “We moved his
steps up a little before the final jump, but it was really more a
product of a good approach run than changing anything.”
Competing simultaneously in the javelin and triple jump, Stuart took
seventh in the triple jump with a career-best leap of 47’9 to also
claim All-American honors. His javelin throw of 187’10 was less than
three feet from qualifying him for the finals.
“Alex was solid all the way through,” said Haynes.
Greene wasn’t the only Scot to set a new school mark Saturday. On
the women’s side, freshman 100-meter hurdler Shannon Turczyn broke
her own school record, clocking a time of 14.33 to place fifth and
attain All-American status.
“There were not any wind-aided times on Saturday,” said Haynes, who
said Turczyn’s time drop from a best of 14.96 in April can be
attributed her to ability to compete against the better hurdlers
she’s seen recently. “Hurdling is a rhythm event, and the faster
that rhythm gets can either help you or hurt you. It hasn’t been a
problem for her. She’s made great progress this year.”
On Friday, sophomore Jonny Henkins cleared 15’11-1/4 in the pole
vault to capture All-American honors with a fifth-place finish.
“He had a really solid mental approach,” praised Haynes. “He didn’t
let the fact that the event got changed from Thursday to Friday
morning (due to weather) bother him. He missed a jump early but
vaulted clean after that and was as good as he’s been.”
Monmouth’s nearest All-American miss was the 4x400 relay squad of
Dante Daniels, Tyler Rundle, Josh Reschke and Luke Reschke. After
qualifying for the finals in a school-record time of 3:11.57, they
placed ninth in the nine-team final. Their time of 3:14.36 in the
meet’s last event was less than three-tenths of a second off
reaching the awards podium. Had they been able to repeat their
school-record time, they would have placed third.
“They all ran great on Thursday, but they didn’t run their best in
the final,” said Haynes. “I told them after the race that I’d rather
be ninth every time in a great race than not get into a great race.”
Daniels, who ran 47.7 leadoff legs in both 4x400 races, missed out
on the finals in two individual events. That included the 100-meter
dash, where his preliminary time of 10.88 lost out on reaching the
finals when it was rounded to thousandths. He also failed to qualify
in the 200-meter dash despite running a strong time of 21.50.
“I’d have bet a million dollars that 21.50 would have qualified him
for the finals,” said Haynes, who noted that three of the eight
entries in the finals could not match that time.
High jumpers Christina Reiner (5’2-1/2) and Tim Frank (6’4-3/4) did
not reach the finals, nor did pole vaulters Peter Sprecher
(15’5-1/2) and Jessica White (11’0-3/4) or throwers Zach Wilson
(52’10 in the shot) and Jenny Babos (130’2 in the discus). Like
Daniels, Wilson missed out on the finals by one spot, while Sprecher
lost out on All-American honors because he took too many attempts to
clear an earlier height.
“Peter had a sore back that he’d been dealing with,” said Haynes.
“He clearly didn’t jump his best.”
While the jitters of competing at nationals might have been an issue
for some of the Scots who came up empty on All-Americans bids, only
Reiner saw her career come to an end. The Scots will return 12 of
the 14 athletes who qualified for nationals, with Greene being the
other graduate.
“We tell the kids that you don’t stay the same – you either get
better or you get worse,” said Haynes. “Some will work harder to get
back to nationals in better shape, and some might just assume
they’ll do well again. You would certainly think that the national
experience they gained would be helpful.”
Next year’s national meet will be held in Oshkosh, Wis., and Haynes
can only hope it will be as well-attended as this year’s.
“It was a pretty special national meet for us,” he said. “We had
more fans than we’ve ever had.”
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