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Staley goes the
distance for Fighting Scots track
Release Date: February 12, 2007
MONMOUTH, Ill. — Every
meet, it seems like a different member of the Monmouth College track
program steps into the spotlight.
It was Clay Staley’s turn Saturday at the DePauw Invitational in
Greencastle, Ind., as the freshman distance runner contributed
mightily to the Fighting Scots’ second-place finish out of 23 teams.
Monmouth’s men scored 86 points, falling just seven points shy of
first-place Missouri Baptist. The Scots’ high finish should not have
been surprising, as the team recently landed the No. 2 national
ranking in the first performance-based Division III track and field
poll of the year.
Staley won the 3000-meter run in 8:43.42, and only teammate Zach
Barr has ever run a faster 3000-meter time at Monmouth. Staley also
placed third in the mile (4:26.25).
“Clay ran a solid race and continued to drop his time lap after lap
after lap,” said Haynes of Staley’s 3000-meer run. “Compared to his
high school 1600-meter time, his mile was also a personal best.”
Speaking of Barr, the former national champion placed fourth in the
5000-meter run with an indoor personal-best of 15:21.83.
“It’s indicative of what he’s been doing in his training,” said
Haynes. “He’s been working at the longer distances and hasn’t done
as much speed work at this point.”
Monmouth’s other winner on the day was Jeff Rebholz, who placed
first in the shot put (52'10-3/4) and added a sixth-place weight
throw of 55'5-3/4.
Sprinter Dante Daniels is gearing up for a serious run at national
honors, and he edged closer to the times he’ll need to get there by
placing second in the 200-meter dash (22.46) and sixth in the
55-meter dash (6.58).
“Dante was solid,” said Haynes. “I look for big things out of him in
the next two weeks.”
One of those big things will hopefully be a strong run at a
national-qualifying 4x400 time. Daniels and Tyler Rundle ran solid
legs at DePauw, but Ryan Hardman was cut off and knocked down on the
third leg. Haynes said that the team was headed for a strong finish,
and it would have given them enough points to win the meet.
The 4x400 squad will get the Reschke brothers, Josh and Luke, back
from basketball this week and hope to show well at Northern Iowa
Open in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Friday.
Like Daniels, Kel Bond is nearing a national-qualifying time. In the
800-meter run, he placed second in 1:55.24. Only 10 competitors in
the nation have run the provisional time of 1:55.
Zach Wilson did best a provisional mark with his third-place shot of
51'4-1/4, and nationally-ranked pole vaulters Peter Sprecher and
Jonny Henkins placed fourth and fifth, respectively, clearing 15'11
and 15'3.
Also scoring for the Scots were Rundle in the 400-meter dash (third,
51.45), Alex Stuart in the triple jump (fifth, 45'0-1/4) and Aaron
Etienne in the 800-meter run (seventh, 2:00.27). The 4x200 squad of
Tony Bradford, Aaron Daverin, Brad Gross and Hardman placed third in
1:33.48.
Monmouth’s women were eighth out of 20 teams, scoring 36.5 points.
Jen Babos starred for the Scots, breaking the school record in the
weight throw with a runner-up toss of 50'11-1/2 that moved her up to
12th in the national rankings. She was also eighth in the shot put
with a personal-best heave of 39'10-1/2.
“She’s really starting to show both consistency and quality,” said
Haynes. “She’s been working on her consistency and has doing much
better in that regard. Based on her training, she should still throw
even better in the coming weeks.”
Another highlight came from Megan Clennon. Her fourth-place high
jump of 5'3 made her the first Fighting Scot woman to clear that
height since All-American Melissa Jones accomplished the feat four
years ago.
“She also had two good jumps at 5'5” said Haynes. “It was a very
good weekend for her.”
Jessica White placed fourth in the pole vault (10'11-3/4) and Megan
McKenna was fifth (10'6). McKenna added a sixth-place finish in the
triple jump (33'10-1/4) and took eighth in the long jump (16'5-3/4).
Also scoring for the Scots were Ashley Widdop in the 55-meter
hurdles (third, 8.76) and Sara Ingersoll in the mile (eighth,
5:25.19).
The 4x400 squad of Katey Vaccarello, Ingersoll, Jacquie Ouart and
Widdop placed seventh in 4:17.57.
Besides his scoring competitors, Haynes was also impressed by the
men’s distance group, which had good performances across the board.
Included in that were solid races by Darin VanNattan and Brad Begyn
in the 5000-meter run and Scott Heiar in the mile and 3000-meter
run.
“We’re getting to the point of the season where it’s time to start
focusing on one specific race,” concluded Haynes. “We also don’t
want to over-race and try to chase qualifying times. That’s the
worst thing you can do at this point. We won’t take a full squad to
Northern Iowa this weekend, because we want to get some of our
athletes rested and make sure we’re healthy for our big meets at the
end of the season.”
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