|
SCOTS SCOOP – March 7, 2007 – Vol. 7, No. 31
A MOST OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE
In one respect, it was the same old, same old for the Fighting Scots at
the Midwest Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships last weekend.
By decisive margins, both teams took first place, with the men winning
their eighth straight MWC title and the women taking their sixth
consecutive crown. There was the usual parade of red-clad athletes
stepping forward to the award podium to claim their all-conference medals,
which were presented to the top three finishers in each event.
But what was a little bit new and a little bit different for the Scots
came just after the medals were awarded. A staggering total of 10 team
members – including five in men’s field events – earned Most Outstanding
Performer honors, and the Scots dwarfed the competition when it came to
recognizing athletes who had qualified automatically or provisionally for
this weekend’s national meet in Terre Haute, Ind.
In all, the Scots will be sending 12 athletes to nationals, and the men,
who have four competitors ranked in the top three nationally, have the
very real possibility of bringing home a team trophy.
That quartet – junior pole vaulters Jonny Henkins (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee)
and Peter Sprecher (Canton, Ill./Canton) and throwers Jeff Rebholz (Henry,
Ill./Henry) and Zach Wilson (Lacon, Ill./Midland) – were joined by senior
jumper Alex Stuart (Kirkwood, Ill./Yorkwood) in a 5-for-5 Monmouth sweep
of the field events MOPs.
After being stuck at a top height of 16'6 for a month, both Henkins and
Sprecher cleared an MWC-record 16'9-1/2 to easily win the event, and
Wilson moved up to automatic-qualifier status in the weight throw with a
conference meet-record heave of 60'8. He was also second in the shot put
(51'2-3/4).
“They were inconsistent early, but they were both very solid at the higher
heights,” said MC coach Roger Haynes of Henkins and Sprecher. “They felt
good about the 16'9-1/2. They improved their height entering the national
meet, and I think that sets them up physically and emotionally about as
well as they could have.”
Rebholz took second in the weight throw (54'3-1/4) and had the winning
shot put of 54'10-1/4, while Stuart won the triple jump (47'0-3/4) and
placed second in the long jump (21'3-1/2).
“Alex was the first jumper in the first flight of the preliminaries, and
he went 47'0-3/4 on the first jump of the competition,” said Haynes. “For
some reason, triple jumpers don’t really peak at indoor nationals, so Alex
is in good shape heading into the meet (within seven inches of the
second-best mark).”
Rebholz will head to Terre Haute ranked third in both of the throws, while
Henkins and Sprecher are tied for second nationally in the pole vault.
Wilson moved up to sixth in the weight throw, and Stuart is the No. 8
triple jumper.
In the meet’s last event, seniors Dante Daniels (Waukegan,
Ill./Gurnee-Warren) and Tyler Rundle (Monmouth, Ill./Warren) and brothers
Josh and Luke Reschke (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo) won the 4x400 relay in
3:21.21. Their top time of the season, which was achieved last month, is
good for ninth nationally. Sophomore Jacob Stott (Morris, Ill./Coal City)
is the alternate for the squad.
The roster of men’s athletes who earned MOP honors was rounded out by
senior distance runners Kel Bond (Dixon, Ill./Dixon), who won the
800-meter run (1:55.36) and the mile (4:22.59), and Zach Barr (Roseville,
Ill./Roseville), who won the 3000-meter run (8:42.98) and placed second in
the 5000-meter run (15:15.92). Bond’s best 800-meter time, achieved
earlier this season, missed qualifying for nationals by six hundredths of
a second.
“Kel really had two solid races,” said Haynes. “He was clearly the class
of the middle distance field. Zach’s performance was a real good story at
the meet. He ran his best 5K time indoors or out, and he was a couple
seconds off his best 3K time. Those performances set him up well for the
outdoor season.”
The two women making the trip to nationals also had solid meets. Junior
Jessica White (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) won the pole vault, clearing a
school- and conference-record height of 11'10-1/2, and sophomore Shannon
Turczyn (Peru, Ill./LaSalle-Peru) bettered the MWC mark in the preliminary
round of the 55-meter hurdles (8.37) before winning the event in 8.43.
“To break a conference record by more than a foot is a pretty dominant
thing,” said Haynes of White’s winning vault. As for Turczyn, Haynes said
she is simply continuing a trend of running faster at the end of the
season. She also tends to run faster as the competition gets stronger,
which bodes well for a strong performance at nationals.
Turczyn was also a part of the victorious 4x400 squad (4:08.04), along
with sophomore Katey Vaccarello (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West) and seniors
Jacquie Ouart (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee) and Kila Cox (Granger, Ind./Hononegah),
and she ran on the first-place 4x200 squad (1:47.53) with Vaccarello, Cox
and sophomore Ashley Widdop (Reynolds, Ill./Rockridge).
Turczyn earned an MOP honor, and so did Cox, who won the 400-meter dash
with a personal-best time of 58.99 in addition to her two relay wins. She
added PRs of 7.56 and 26.39 in the 55- and 200-meter dashes while placing
second in both races.
“That was her best conference meet ever, and one of the best we’ve ever
had from a sprinter,” said Haynes, who was honored as the MWC Women’s
Coach of the Year. “That was better than she’s been on the track in her
entire life. She had an outstanding meet.”
Junior Megan McKenna (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) claimed a share of MOP
honors by winning the long jump (17'6-3/4) and triple jump (35'4) and
placing second to White in the pole vault (10'10-3/4).
“Megan is tremendously versatile,” said Haynes. “I know she’s disappointed
that she’s not advancing to nationals in any of her three events, but
that’s a very tough triple to pull off.”
Junior Jen Babos (Leland, Ill./Somonauk) led three Monmouth throwers to
podium, winning the weight throw (49'7-3/4). Freshman Gloria Lehr (Knxoville,
Ill./Knoxville) was second in the shot put (41'0-1/4) and sophomore
Tanesha Hughes (Peoria, Ill./Woodruff) was second in the weight throw
(46'0).
Other winners for the Scots were Daniels in the 200-meter dash (22.27),
Luke Reschke in the 400-meter dash (50.04), senior Brandon Hurckes (East
Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) in the 55-meter hurdles (8.09) and senior Tim
Frank (6'4-1/4) and junior Megan Clennon (5'2-1/2) in the high jump.
The men’s sprint medley team of junior Brad Gross (Galesburg,
Ill./Galesburg), junior Tim Meredith (Joy, Ill./Westmer), Stott and
sophomore Damon Bautista (Silvis, Ill./East Moline) took first in 3:36.00,
and the men’s 4x200 team of Rundle, Gross, Luke Reschke and Daniels won in
1:29.24.
Reaching the podium on the women’s side were senior Sara Ingersoll
(Monmouth, Ill./Monmouth) in the 800-meter run (2:23.73) and the mile
(5:20.95), sophomore Erin Degelman (Sherrard, Ill./Sherrard) in the pole
vault (10'10-3/4) and Widdop in the 55-meter hurdles (8.86). The sprint
medley team of Cox, Vaccarello, Ouart and senior Joni Nelson (Little York,
Ill./Yorkwood) placed runner-up in 4:25.92. Degelman’s height meant that
all five MC competitors broke the previous conference pole vault record.
Placing second or third for the men were junior Aaron Etienne (Elburn,
Ill./Kaneland) in the 800-meter run (1:57.88) and the mile (4:23.72),
sophomore Nick Long (Lisbon, Iowa/Mt. Vernon) in the 55-meter hurdles
(8.28), Daniels in the 55-meter dash (6.50) and Josh Reschke (50:40) and
Stott (50.83) in the 400-meter dash. Juniors Scott Heair (Milan,
Ill./Sherrard), Meredith, Kyle Schierer (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) and Seth
Leitner (Edelstein, Ill./Dunlap) were third in the distance medley relay
(10:56.32).
“We saw some progress from our freshman and sophomores,” said Haynes, who
noted Stott’s progression and Bautista’s 1:58 relay split as examples.
“That was good to see, because we’re going to have to replace a great
senior class next year.”
For the record, Monmouth won 22 of the meet’s 36 events. The women scored
210 points to defeat runner-up Carroll by just shy of 100 points. The men
posted a whopping 264 points, nearly doubling the 133 points of
second-place Illinois College.
The most important point total, though, figures to come this weekend. On
paper, the men will be seeded to score 34 points. If they do, indeed,
achieve that total, a top four national trophy should be their reward.
“We’ll do the same thing we always do,” said Haynes. “We’ll just worry
about the events one at a time. If we get the type of performances we’ve
been getting, the points will take care of themselves, and we should be in
pretty good shape.”
HENKINS SETS HIS SIGHTS ON NO. 1
The late Al McGuire, the legendary NCAA champion coach turned
broadcaster, once said of his athletes, “The best thing about freshmen is
that they become sophomores.”
That’s a statement that Jonny Henkins, MC’s All-American pole vaulter,
certainly understands.
The All-State performer at Kewanee High School has been a freshman track
athlete twice, with the first time occurring in the spring of 2001.
“I came into high school as a hurdler, but the pole vault caught my
attention,” recalled Henkins. “I’ve been doing it since my freshman year.
That first year, I remember clearing 7’6, and that was a big feat for me,
as distant as it seems now.”
Between his freshman and sophomore years, however, Henkins had the type of
transformation that McGuire so often saw. His progress was due in part to
a summer of workouts with KHS track coach Marland Rachel, and he also
learned better vaulting technique. By the time his second Boiler track
season began, it didn’t take him long to reach new heights.
“I cleared double figures by the second or third meet that year, and I set
the school frosh-soph record of 12’0,” said Henkins.
By the time his KHS career was over, he also broke the school record,
clearing 14’3 at both the sectional and state meets as a senior. He earned
All-State honors by placing fifth at the 2004 Class A Meet.
In the meantime, Henkins had been considering a college to continue his
vaulting career, and he said he ultimately chose Monmouth because “it was
close to home, and when I came for a visit, I liked everything about it.”
“Jonny was clearly the type of high school kid we like to recruit,” said
track coach Roger Haynes. “He was an All-State kid, and he had the
physical abilities to get even better. He’s the type of kid who could’ve
gone to a scholarship school. Both he and Peter (Sprecher) are jumping as
high as any scholarship kid in the state right now.”
Becoming a Scot also meant becoming a freshman again, and Henkins recalled
that his latest four-year journey also took a while to pick up steam.
“We had a communication problem early on,” said Henkins of Haynes, who is
now in his 24th year as MC’s coach. “I didn’t really communicate with him,
and I think a lot of that came along with being a freshman, and maybe some
of it was intimidation. He approached me and told me he needed to know
things, and we’ve had better communication since then. It’s made our
relationship a lot better. He’s a good listener, and I look up to him.”
Haynes smiled when asked about the McGuire statement, and he said he has
his own favorite quote about what happens to athletes as they move through
their Fighting Scot careers.
“The one I use with the kids all the time is ‘Things don’t stay the same.
They either get better or they get worse.’ Jonny’s chosen to get better in
all areas. He certainly wasn’t a problem or the cause of any trouble. I
either leave my kids alone or I really dig at them to find out what’s
going on, and that first year, we left each other alone. He’s made the
changes. He has more solid beliefs now on where he’s going and what’s
important to him.”
The results can be shown both numerically and by accomplishments, and
Henkins prefers to use the latter when measuring his success.
“My goal is to be national champion,” he said. “It’s not a certain height.
I just need to do the best I can do on that day (at nationals). If I’m my
very best that day, I can be national champion.”
Being a national champ is not merely a pipe dream for the junior. After
all, he and Sprecher both cleared the automatic-qualifying height of 16’6
a month ago, and they raised that to 16’9-1/2 with excellent performances
at last weekend’s MWC Championships, leaving them tied for second
nationally. Henkins already has a fifth-place All-American finish under
his belt, accomplishing that at last year’s outdoor nationals.
“Being All-American is a pretty big deal to me, but so is making the
automatic qualifying height this year,” said Henkins. “I looked for that
all last year and never made it.”
Ironically, Sprecher reached it first during Monmouth’s home meet on Jan.
27. In fact, his classmate sometimes beats him at meets, leaving Henkins
among the national elite but second on his own team.
“We’re not rivals,” he said. “We joke a lot with each other. When he hit
16’6, I looked at him and said, ‘Why’d you have to do that to me?’ But
then I did it, too.”
“We certainly have a pole vault ‘culture’ now,” said Haynes, who also has
a trio of talented women’s vaulters, led by Jessica White, who is ranked
10th nationally. “Developing a culture like that is important, and it’s
something we feel is also happening with our distance group and with our
throwers. Track kids want to be around other successful kids. We’ve had
other coaches come up to us at meets and ask if it’s OK if they film our
kids vaulting, which is a nice compliment to get.”
Henkins automatic-qualifying goal has been accomplished, but with the
potential to compete in four more national meets in his career, it’s clear
that he’s not going to rest on his laurels. One number that Henkins said
does intrigue Sprecher and him is Keenan King’s school record of
16’10-3/4. Both made good attempts at the height at the Jan. 27 meet.
“Coach Haynes is always pushing me to be better than where I’m at,” he
said. “When I was vaulting 15’0, he told me I could go 16’0, and now he
tells me I can go 17’6 or 18’0. He sees the potential.”
Henkins added that future increases in height will come about through
“keeping my head in the game and not letting my surroundings intimidate
me.”
“He’s not a finished product by any means,” said Haynes. “He’s naturally
competitive, both vs. the bar and vs. the competition. Once athletes get
good, it’s hard to get great, and that’s where we’re at. Being a national
champion is a hard thing to predict. We had two in 2005 (Zach Barr and
Blake Boma), and they both took very different approaches. Zach was
motivated to keep doing better and better and let the result happen, while
being a national champion was all Blake thought about for two years. I
think Jonny gets a little down on himself when he doesn’t see the big
number at a meet, but even his 15’7 vault (on Feb. 16) would have been
good enough to medal at nationals last year.”
Haynes looks at the pole vault, as well as many of the other events in
track, as a “science experiment,” and he explained why.
“In ball sports, it’s the score you’re concerned with, but in track, it’s
more of a competition with yourself to reach new levels of performance. In
the pole vault, the bar always wins, even at the world-class level. You
may do better than you have before, but at some point, you fail to make
the height. But each time out, we add to the formula to try to make it
work out like we want.”
That typically means tinkering with the training, although slight
adjustments are also made during competition. Haynes said that when
Henkins and Sprecher both cleared 16’6, it was early in the season when
all they’d really covered in practice was fundamentals. That caused Haynes
to re-focus his attention on fundamentals after a few meets had gone by
without either vaulter moving past 16’6.
Due to Monmouth’s success this year, Haynes was asked if the pole vault is
perhaps his favorite event to coach.
“They’re all my favorite when you have motivated kids in an event,” he
said. “I really enjoy trying to help them do something they’ve never done
before.”
For Jonny Henkins, the one-time 7’6 vaulter at Kewanee High School, that
something just might be a national championship.
ONE WIN, ONE MORE POSTPONEMENT FOR NETTERS
The hardest part of the Fighting Scots’ 9-0 victory over Cornell last
Friday wasn’t the tennis itself. It was simply getting to Mt. Vernon,
Iowa.
“It was a little dicey,” said coach Chad Braun. “We saw about 35 vehicles
in the ditch, although I’m sure most of them were from the night before.”
Once they had safely arrived, Monmouth wasted little time in improving to
2-2 on the year. The Scots won two matches by forfeit and dropped just
four games while winning the two contested doubles matches. In three of
the five singles matches played, the Scots lost one game or less,
including 6-0, 6-0 wins for Jared Kunkle (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap) at No. 1
and Kevin Kamenjarin (Alsip, Ill./Marist) at No. 3.
“The guys played pretty solid for the most part,” said Braun. “It was good
to get a match in.”
And it was especially good since the Scots couldn’t get their next match
in the following day at Luther, raising their total of postponed matches
to five.
Some adjustments have been made to the Scots’ schedule, as they will now
play home matches Thursday and Friday vs. Western Illinois and Wartburg,
as well as a March 15 home make-up date vs. Loras.
A ‘SCHOOL’ OF SWIMMERS
The Monmouth College women’s swim team has made the grade with the
College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA). The women were
recently named an Academic All-American team by the CSCAA, and their team
GPA of 3.238 placed them in the top 50 nationwide in Division III.
“I’m extremely proud of what the women have accomplished this year, both
in the pool and in the classroom,” said coach Keith Crawford, whose squad
excelled with a fourth place finish at last month’s Midwest Conference
meet.
|
