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Scots piecing together a run
at another conference title
Release Date:
February 17, 2009
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
For the past
26 years, Monmouth College track coach Roger Haynes has been a
master at putting together Midwest Conference championships – a
combined 48 men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor titles.
Like solving a
jigsaw puzzle, Haynes has put the right pieces together to win a
league-record nine straight men’s and seven consecutive women’s
indoor titles. The Fighting Scots will enter this weekend’s MWC
Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Huff Athletic Center at
Monmouth College with eight defending champions on the men’s side
and three for the women. Add to that a total of 82 performances that
rank in the top 10 of the league and the Scots appear to be set to
successfully defend their string of league crowns. Ever the cautious
competitor, Haynes still has questions.
“We’ve got to
figure out how to move the pieces around to give us the best chance
at winning the meet,” said Haynes. “We haven’t filled in the pieces
quite as well as we should have. We have some gaps in the women’s
sprint races. The field events aren’t quite as solid across the
board as we’d like them to be.”
Haynes can take
some comfort in knowing his team has the top-ranked performance in
seven men’s events and three women’s.
Five-time
All-American Luke Reschke is back for his senior campaign as the
defending 400-meter dash champion, but it could be a photo finish,
as the top five runners are within a second of Reschke’s top-ranked
time (49.31). The good news for Monmouth is that Reschke’s
teammates, Logan Hohl and Jacob Stott, are ranked 4-5 in the event.
Carroll’s Josh Hurlebaus and St. Norbert’s Dann Schneider are ranked
in between, which should make for an interesting contest.
“That should be a
very good race,” predicted Haynes. “We could have six guys run
provisional qualifying times in the 400. It could be an amazing
race.”
Hohl, who has run
a limited number of 55-meter hurdles races this season, has the
top-ranked time in the event and enters as the defending MWC champ.
He’ll be pressured by Robert Wood of Ripon and Justin Troeller from
Carroll.
“Logan has made a
big difference in the team aspect after coming back from an injury,”
said Haynes. “He didn’t run hurdles outdoors, but has run very well
in all of his races indoors. Jake (Stott) is another one who has
helped us in the sprints and relays. He has gotten more and more
valuable as his career has gone on.”
The Scots aren’t
just good in the sprints. Damon Baustista won the 800 last season
and has the league’s fastest time this season, but is just two
seconds ahead of a pair of Grinnell runners – Noah DeLong and Kyle
Lynch-Klarup. Another distance man, Clay Staley, logged the league’s
top times in the mile, the 3K and the 5K. Staley won the mile and 3K
last season.
Monmouth’s men are
also defending champions in three relays – the distance medley
relay, sprint medley relay and the 4x400, where they have the MWC’s
top time (3:19.82).
In the field events,
high jumper Tyler Hannam recorded the conference’s high mark
(6’6-3/4), just in front of teammate Sean Wells. The pair could get
a push from Illinois College’s Dillon Binkley. The Blueboys
sophomore will make his season debut this weekend after finishing
the basketball season. He used the same formula last season to win
the conference high jump crown (6’7).
Monmouth’s Brock
McAnally is the top-ranked pole vaulter by more than a foot
(14’10-1/2). While not ranked in the top two, Sam Cokinos and Peyton
Lumzy are within striking distance in the throws. Cokinos is ranked
third in the shot put and fifth in the weight throw. Lumzy is third
in the weight and fourth in the shot.
Others within
striking distance of a title on the track include: Kyle Prout,
ranked second in the 55-meter dash, just .02 seconds off Hurlebaus’
top time; and Geoff Bird and Scott Sheller in the 5K, ranked third
and fourth.
The women could pick
up major points in the throws, where they have 10 marks in the top
10. Defending shot put champion Gloria Lehr has the league’s best
mark by more than two feet (43’4-1/4). Alison Renfroe and Tanesha
Hughes, who is fresh off a successful basketball season, are ranked
third and fourth. Amanda Streeter has the conference’s sixth-best
throw and Maureen Dewan is ninth.
Streeter is ranked
tops in the weight throw (48’11-3/4) by nearly eight inches over
Lehr, who is second. It’s a Monmouth logjam after that. Hughes,
Renfroe and Dewan are 4-5-6.
Shannon Turczyn has
the top time in the 55-meter hurdles (8.37) by nearly a half second
over St. Norbert’s Marisa Trakanovich. She enters her final indoor
meet as the defending champion.
Jae Moore is ranked
second in the triple jump, just five inches back of Ripon’s Trisha
Jones (34’3). The Scots’ Morgan Leffel is the defending champion and
is ranked fifth, between teammates Whitney Didier and Megan McKenna.
Moore is also ranked second in the 55-meter dash, .04 seconds back
of Marva Goodson of Lawrence.
Haynes hopes his
women’s distance group can duplicate the success they had in winning
the cross country title last fall.
Mary Kate Beyer is
just 10 seconds off the MWC’s top time in the 3K, set by Carroll’s
Megan O’Grady, who also has the top time in the mile. Beyer is
ranked third in both the mile and the 5K. Katie Staab sits fourth in
the 5K and fifth in both the mile and 3K races.
“The women’s distance
races are going to be outstanding,” claimed Haynes. “St. Norbert and
Carroll have some good distance people and our group is very strong.
The sprints should be very competitive as well. Lawrence, Illinois
College and Carroll have some excellent sprinters.”
McKenna leads a 2-3-4
Monmouth group in the pole vault. Didier has the third-best league
mark and Erin Degelman competed for the first time this season last
week and is ranked fourth. McKenna is also ranked third in the long
jump. Sarah Stinson and Heather Hull could make noise in the high
jump, where they have the conference’s fourth and fifth best
heights.
With a history of
success and so many highly-ranked performances, Haynes still isn’t
ready to take the conference trophy just yet.
“We’re going to be in
a tight race,” warned Haynes, who expects strong challenges on the
men’s side from Illinois College, Carroll and St. Norbert. He also
predicts Carroll and St. Norbert to be strong competitors for the
women.
“We’ll have to bounce
back and pull out some unexpected performances if we expect to do
well,” said Haynes. “Grinnell always has strong distance people, so
a lot of it will be teams taking advantage in some gaps where other
teams aren’t quite as strong. Our mission is still the same – we’re
interested in each entry and each person doing as well as they have
all season. That’s what makes the meet a success, not the team
totals.”
Don’t get Haynes
wrong, he’ll still make room for another couple of conference team
trophies if they happen his way.
Men's
Indoor Track |
Women's Indoor Track
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