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Scots face challenge at Midwest Conference Championships
Release Date:
May 5, 2009
MONMOUTH, Ill. —
No team other than Monmouth College has won the Midwest
Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championship since 2001 on the
men’s side and since 2005 on the women’s.
This weekend, the Fighting Scots will be in defense of their
titles at the MWC meet hosted by Carroll University in Waukesha,
Wis., but it won’t be easy. Monmouth is expected to be seriously
challenged for both the men’s and women’s titles.
“Carroll and St. Norbert look like they could be among the
contenders,” reported Roger Haynes of the women’s
competition. “The women’s meet should be closer than it was indoors
simply because of the outdoor events. It’s a different type of meet
and Carroll has good numbers.”
Ironically, Carroll was the spoiler for the men in 1999 and 2000,
breaking the Scots’ string of four consecutive crowns. The Pioneers
were also the team that ended Monmouth’s women’s streak of four
straight in 2004.
Monmouth’s women should be able to throw some points on the
board, literally. Senior thrower Tanesha Hughes is the
defending league champion the discus, shot put and hammer throw. She
leads a trio of Scots in the top three in the discus. Her NCAA
automatic qualifying mark of 164’6” is more than 20’ farther than
teammates Gloria Lehr – ranked second – and third-ranked
Allison Renfro.
Hughes’ hammer throw of 151’8” leads the MWC as
Monmouth holds five of the top six spots. Amanda Streeter is
ranked third, followed by Lehr, Maureen Dewan and Renfro.
Hughes is just a foot back of the shot put leader – Heidi Baerenwald
of Ripon, who threw the shot 45’7-3/4”. The Scots also have strength
in numbers in that event, claiming five of the top seven throws with
Lehr and Streeter ranked 3-4 and Renfro and Dewan 6-7.
Senior hurdler/sprinter Shannon Turczyn
joins Hughes as Monmouth’s only other returning women’s champion.
Turczyn will shoot for the clean sweep in the sprint hurdles. The
speedster was undefeated in the conference’s indoor 55-meter hurdles
and has won the outdoor titles her three previous years. She has the
conference’s top time by more than a second heading into the final
conference meet of her career.
Monmouth’s other top seeded performers are
Mary Kate Beyer in the steeplechase, Megan McKenna in the
triple jump and the 4x100 relay team. Beyer logged the season’s
fastest time of 11:01.94 last week, but there are four other runners
within a minute of the Scots’ record-holder.
Meanwhile, McKenna leads the triple jump by 7”
and teammate Jae Moore could gain points as the fifth-seed.
The Scots’ 4x100 relay has a narrow lead on Carroll for the top
seed. Monmouth’s best time of 49.53 is just .04 faster than the
Pioneers.
Moore, Turczyn and Brittany Lowdermilk
are in position to make some noise in the 100-meter dash. The trio
is ranked in the top 10 and Moore is less than a half-second off the
leader. Moore and Turczyn are also within a second of top-seeded
Katie Miller of Illinois College in the 200.
Katie Vaccarello and Turczyn could also
challenge for the title in the 400-meter hurdles. Illinois College’s
Candice Norville is the leader of the pack, running a season-best
1:07.25, but only .11 separates the top time from Vaccarello in
third and Turczyn seeded fourth.
The Scots are also within striking distance in
two more events. Heather Hull’s season-best in the high jump
trails top-seed Madeline Steininger of Lawrence by just
three-quarters of an inch. In the 800, Lindsie Pettie’s
2:21.85 is less than 10 seconds off the top pace and Katie Staab
sits less than 14 seconds back.
As close as the women’s competition is, the
men’s side will be even tougher for the Scots to defend.
“I think there are four teams capable on the
men’s side,” said Haynes. “It’s going to be much closer than it has
been in a number of years. Grinnell, Illinois College and Carroll
have all improved. It may be a matter of who affects who. It should
be four teams all pretty close, probably within 15-20 points of each
other.”
Just one defending champion returns for the
Scots – javelin thrower Dan Higgins. The senior is seeded
second, a little more than four feet behind William Stewart of
Grinnell.
While Monmouth returns only one men’s champion,
the Scots do have seven top seeds led by Logan Hohl, who has
the top time in both hurdle events. The sophomore leads the
400-meter hurdles by three seconds and in his marquee event – the
100-meter hurdles – his time of 14.80 is .17 faster than Justin
Troeller of Carroll.
Geoff Bird has logged the MWC’s best
time in the 10K, but will be pushed by four runners within a minute
of his season best. Another five runners are within two minutes.
The Scots are second in both relays behind
Carroll. Monmouth is less than a second behind the Pioneers in the
4x100 and the 4x400. The two teams lead the rest of the 4x400 field
by 10 seconds.
Like the women, the men will have strength in
the field events, where Peyton Lumzy has recorded the top
marks in both the shot put and discus. His immediate challenger in
the shot is teammate Sam Cokinos, who is less than 7” off
Lumzy’s mark of 49’11”. Freshman Paul Terpening could also
gain points with the eighth-best throw in the league. Lumzy leads in
the discus by 5’ over Ripon’s Kyle Roy. Cokinos is in scoring
position, seeded fifth.
Tyler Hannam and Sean Wells are
sitting atop the seeds in two jumps. Hannam’s 6’8” mark in the high
jump leads the field by 2”. Wells is seeded third and John
Gambrel and Matt Hassler are 5-6. Wells also has the top
triple jump, but has two jumpers – Dona Lado of Carroll and IC’s Joe
Simmons – within 8”. Nick Wright and Michael Blodgett
are seeded 6-7.
The Scots should find strength in numbers in
the sprints. Monmouth has four of the top five times in the 400. St.
Norbert’s Dan Schneider has the top time at 47.71, but then it’s all
Scots. Shane Reschke, Jacob Stott, Hohl and Ryan
Hardman are all within three seconds of the leader. Monmouth has
a similar situation in the 200, with five of the top 10 times.
Saidu Sesay leads that pack with the MWC’s fourth-best time.
Kyle Prout and Aaron Daverin are 6-7 and Reschke and
Hardman are 9-10.
Damon Bautista could challenge in both
the 800 and 1500. The senior is seeded third in the 800, less than a
second back of top seeded Kyle Lynch-Klarup of Grinnell. He’s a bit
farther back in the 1500 – seventh – but is within six seconds of
the leader, Grinnell’s Thomas Jamieson.
With the Scots’ championships seriously
challenged, what plan has Haynes drawn up? It’s surprisingly simple.
“I told them last week what I always tell
them,” said Haynes. “We just have to go in and worry about the
quality of our entries and not worry about head-to-head matchups. We
just have to be solid in every entry and every event.”
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