Competing against a field that included Division I athletes at the
Butler Twilight Meet in Indianapolis, Ind., the Monmouth College
track team took three of the four Midwest Conference Performer of
the Week honors in men’s and women’s track & field.
In a field that included 28 men’s teams, Clay Staley (Hanna City,
Ill./Illini Bluffs) ran a personal-best in the steeplechase and
received the MWC Performer of the Week honor in men’s track. His
time of 9:26.76 placed him third and was just under four seconds off
the NCAA provisional qualifying time. The sophomore distance man
shaved more than nine seconds off his conference-leading time in the
event.
Junior hurdle specialist Shannon Turczyn (Peru,
Ill./LaSalle-Peru) ran against competitors from 26 schools and
automatically qualified for the NCAA outdoor nationals to capture
the Performer of the Week honor in women’s track. Turczyn’s
100-meter hurdle time of 14.29 broke her own school record and
automatically qualified her for the national meet while turning in
the nation’s third-best time in the event. She also ran a leg on the
Scots’ second-place 4x100 relay and clocked a personal-best 12.64 in
the 100- to tie for the conference lead.
Senior thrower Jenny Babos (Leland,Ill./Somonauk) faired well
against the 26-team field to take the Performer of the Week honor in
women’s field events. Babos posted a pair of NCAA
provisional-qualifying marks. She placed third in the discus with a
mark of 147’9 and improved her provisional- and season-best mark by
nearly a foot in the shot put, finishing fourth at 43’7-3/4. She
also placed seventh in the hammer throw with a distance of 138’8.
Monmouth’s women won the Butler Twilight Meet and the men placed
second.
