TRACK PERFORMANCES HEATING UP

So far, most of the outdoor track season has been conducted in less than ideal weather conditions, when it’s been able to be held at all. The clock is loudly ticking away in terms of athletes being able to post times or distances that will qualify them for next month’s national meet.

On Saturday in Lisle, eight Fighting Scots took advantage of the best weather of the season to either move up in the national rankings or, in many cases, post a qualifying mark for the first time this spring as Monmouth College competed at the Benedictine University Invitational.

Coach Roger Haynes not only credited the mild weather conditions, but also said his teams had experienced past success at Benedictine, which was the site of last year’s national meet.

Monmouth’s lead story once again came from a pair of pole vaulters. Junior All-American Jessica White (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) burst onto the outdoor scene in her first action of the spring, clearing a school-record and automatic-qualifying height of 12’5-1/2 to move up to third nationally. By shattering her previous school record of 11’10, White showed she is clearly past an injury that had kept her on the sidelines prior to the meet.

"She’d been sore, and we held her out of some meets," said Haynes. "If she hadn’t finished her workout on Thursday, we were going to hold her out again, but she made it through, and then she looked really solid at the meet."

Junior Peter Sprecher (Canton, Ill./Canton) has reached the automatic pole vault height, and his fellow All-American, classmate Jonny Henkins (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee), joined him Saturday, clearing 16’6. Sprecher was one place back at 16’0.

"We had a lot of track alumni there Saturday, and one of them was Roger Well, our Hall of Fame decathlete," said Haynes. "He vaulted 13’7 when he was in college, and he was pretty amazed by the whole process … Jonny was really solid, and he had some decent jumps at 17 feet. This was the type of weekend he needed."

Both White and Henkins earned first place honors, joining eight other Scots who won events. The men were dominant, scoring 231 points to top runner-up Loyola University by 145 points in the 20-team field, while the women took second out of 21 teams, trailing first-place Lewis University by just 17.

Senior Alex Stuart (Kirkwood, Ill./Yorkwood) won twice for the Scots, throwing the javelin 182’8 and soaring 45’3 in the triple jump. Also finishing first were senior Dante Daniels (Waukegan, Ill./Gurnee-Warren) in the 100-meter dash (10.71), sophomore Luke Reschke (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo) in the 400-meter dash (48.81), freshman Clay Staley (Hanna City, Ill./Illini Bluffs) in the steeplechase (9:37.79), sophomore Shannon Turczyn (Peru, Ill./LaSalle-Peru) in the 100-meter hurdles (14.70), senior Jeff Rebholz (Henry, Ill./Henry) in the shot put (a personal-best 54’5-1/4), junior Zach Wilson (Lacon, Ill./Midland) in the hammer throw (171’7) and senior Tim Frank (Farmington, Ill./Farmington) in the high jump (6’4).

Among those marks, Daniels, Turczyn, Rebholz and Wilson all moved up in the national rankings, with Rebholz taking over the No. 4 spot in the shot put. Daniels also placed second in the 200-meter dash in 21.47, in the process moving into the top four nationally.

"Dante was right around where we think he needs to be at this point," said Haynes. "His 200 was a really solid race. He’s still got some technical improvements he can make on the curve and on his start, but he is way ahead of where he was last spring."

Of Rebholz and his big throws, Haynes said, "We’ve been waiting for that to happen. It was an ‘about time’ kind of thing. He’s had a lot of big throws in practice, so it was good to see it happen in a meet, and he’s been aggressively working on the discus, too." He placed second in the latter event, with his 154’4 throw coming just 18 inches short of the provisional mark.

Like White, Turczyn has also "experienced discomfort" and missed meets, but Haynes said her provisional time was "indicative of what a solid hurdler she is. She’s very efficient in the air."

For their efforts at Benedictine, White, Turczyn, Reschke and Rebholz were all honored by the Midwest Conference as Performers of the Week.

Other provisional marks came from junior Jen Babos (144’4) and sophomore Tanesha Hughes (a personal-best 137’4), who placed 2-3 in the discus. Babos added a school record in the hammer with her runner-up throw of 141’2 and placed third in the shot put (40’8-3/4).

"Jen is becoming very consistent, both event to event and throw to throw," said Haynes. "That has been the difficult part for her, but she’s really coming on. Tanesha has made huge improvements in the shot put and discus. It won’t be long before she’s in the 140s all the time."

Both of Monmouth’s men’s relays won, with the 4x100 team of Daniels, sophomore Aaron Daverin (Herscher, Ill./Herscher), Reschke and senior Tyler Rundle (Monmouth, Ill./Warren) finishing in 41.86, and the 4x400 group of Rundle, Reschke, senior Brad Gross (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) and sophomore Jacob Stott (Morris, Ill./Coal City) posting a time of 3:19.48.

Also finishing in the top three for the Scots were Staley in the 5000-meter run (a personal-best 15:27.76), seniors Kel Bond (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) in the 800-meter run (a personal-best 1:53.47), Ashley Gaul (Swansea, Ill./Belleville East) in the 10,000-meter run (48:21.46), Zach Barr (Roseville, Ill./Roseville) in the 5000-meter run (15:26.71) and Brandon Hurckes (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) in the 110-meter hurdles (15.58), juniors Darin VanNattan (Green Valley, Ill./Midwest Central) in the 10,000-meter run (34:07.63), Megan McKenna (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) in the long jump (17’8-3/4) and pole vault (a PR of 11’6) and Megan Clennon (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) in the high jump (5’0-1/4) and sophomore Ashley Widdop (Reynolds, Ill./Rockridge) in the 100-meter hurdles (15.60),

Junior Brenda Herrera (Kewanee, Ill./Wethersfield) remained in second place in the MWC with her improved times of 12.59 in the 100-meter dash and 25.76 in the 200-meter dash, and Haynes was also impressed with the performance of Stott, who "was very good in the 200 (22.71) and 400 (49.81)."

Also scoring individual points for the Scots were Daverin, Rundle, Gross, seniors Sara Ingersoll (Monmouth, Ill./Monmouth), Lindsay Ditzler (Freeport, Ill./Freeport) and Andrea Emery (Knoxville, Ill./Knoxville), juniors Kyle Schierer (Metamora, Ill./Metamora), Tim Meredith (Joy, Ill./Westmer), Emmanuel Minter (Park Forest, Ill./Rich East) and Cassie Jensen (Monmouth, Ill./Monmouth), sophomores Katey Vaccarello (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West), Andrew Kuebrich (Plano, Ill./Plano) and Dan Higgins (Oak Lawn, Ill./Oak Lawn) and freshmen Ryan Hardman (Broadview, Ill./St. Joseph’s), Katie Staab (Batavia, Ill./Batavia), Brad Begyn (Rock Island, Ill./Rock Island), Briana Flynn (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley), Sara Ditzler (Freeport, Ill./Freeport), Gloria Lehr (Knoxville, Ill./Knoxville) and April Campen (Hanna City, Ill./Farmington).

"The key to the event for me was the performance of our middle finishers," said Haynes. "A lot of them were pretty exceptional and showed huge improvement."

Rebholz’s improvement in the discus continued Tuesday at the Wartburg Twilight Meet in Waverly, Iowa. He easily outdistanced the 12-man field with a provisional-qualifying throw of 156’4. He and Wilson were also the class of the shot put field with throws of 52’7-1/2 and 47’11-1/4, respectively. Wilson won the hammer throw with a mark of 176’0.

MC’s other winners included Turczyn in the 100-meter hurdles (14.90), Clennon in the high jump (a PR of 5’1-3/4), White in the pole vault (11’1-1/2), Hughes and Babos in the discus (tied at 127’1), Luke Reschke in the 200-meter dash (22.06), Barr in the steeplechase (9:29), Frank in the high jump (6’1-1/4), Gross in the long jump (20’2) and Stuart in the triple jump (45’7).

NETTERS CLINCH MWC PLAYOFF BERTH

Even though the day included a 9-0 loss, Saturday marked a big moment for the men’s tennis team, as they clinched their second straight appearance at the four-team Midwest Conference playoffs this Friday.

The berth was clinched after a 9-0 win over Illinois College in the morning. The 9-0 loss later in the day to Grinnell means that the Scots will have to play North Division champion Ripon in one of Friday’s semifinals. However, the Scots own a win this season over the Red Hawks, who edged St. Norbert 5-4 on Sunday to take the title. The Monmouth-Ripon match will be a rematch of last year’s semi, which the Red Hawks won 4-3 to avenge a 5-2 loss to the Scots during the season.

"We won’t look past Ripon, but our goal is to play in the championship match," said MC coach Chad Braun.

The key to Friday’s success might lie in the health of No. 1 and No. 4 singles player Jared Kunkle (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap) and Matt Moser (Des Plaines, Ill./Maine West). Braun rested both players on Saturday, and Moser has not competed since an April 14 match vs. St. Norbert.

The day before that, Monmouth won a tight match with Ripon, winning all three doubles matches 8-6 and picking up singles wins from sophomore Kyle Korb (Quincy, Ill./Quincy) and senior Alex Carter (Wilton, Iowa/Wilton) and Brian Jordan (Peoria, Ill./Limestone). Kunkle missed the match, so his return should provide a boost in Friday’s 9 a.m. match at the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison, Wis.

Besides reaching the major team goal, Monmouth also had an individual milestone realized, as Carter won his 50th career match Wednesday against St. Ambrose. The victory came during a 7-2 team win that also included singles wins for Korb, junior Kevin Kamenjarin (Alsip, Ill./Marist) and senior Greg Bouslog (Princeton, Ill./Princeton).

It was Carter’s 15th straight triumph, and he tacked on another win vs. a depleted IC squad. The Blueboys only brought three players, meaning the Scots earned two forfeit victories in doubles and three in singles.

Carter saw his streak come to a close vs. Grinnell, but in his defense, he was playing up two spots from his normal No. 5 position. Despite the hardship, he nearly won, rallying to force a third set, which he lost 10-8 in a supertiebreaker. Carter’s record is now 18-3 this year.

Bouslog also battled at No. 4 singles before falling in three sets. In doubles action, the teams of Korb/Kamenjarin and Carter/Bouslog lost a pair of hard-fought 8-6 matches.

The Scots finished the regular season with a 15-6 record.

LINKSTERS POST HIGH FINISHES UP NORTH

As the golf season wears on, it’s not exactly like the Fighting Scots linksters are beginning to separate themselves from each other. In weekend meets hosted by Beloit and Carroll, five Monmouth players carded two-day totals of 153 or 154.

Monmouth’s Red squad finished first out of seven teams at Beloit with a 311, good for a seven-stroke victory over the runner-up Monmouth White team. The squads fired rounds of 303 and 312, respectively, to place second and fourth at Carroll.

Sophomore Jake Kilberg (Rock Falls, Ill./Rock Falls) provided the key moment at Beloit. His score needed to beat St. Norbert’s No. 5 man by seven strokes to give Monmouth the team title. All Kilberg did was come in with a medalist round of 74 at the Glen Erin Golf Club in Janesville, Wis., easily topping his competitor’s score and allowing the Scots to beat the Knights by eight strokes.

The highlight for coach Dave Ragone on Sunday was senior Lee Radford’s one-over-par round of 73, which included four birdies. He tied for fifth at the event, which was held at Broadlands Golf Club in North Prairie, Wis.

Radford and Kilberg both had 153 totals for the weekend, a number that was matched by senior Jeff Denny (Atlanta, Ill./Olympia), who tied Kilberg for medalist honors Saturday. Checking in at 154 were senior Justin Martin (Monmouth, Ill./Warren) and freshman Ryan Tapscott (Port Byron, Ill./Riverdale).

Seniors Nick Harwick (75) and Doug Middendorf (76) and junior Aaron Thiel (78) and all broke 80 once over the weekend, meaning that all but two of the Scots’ 10 golfers accomplished the feat.

"We play six at conference, but there will still probably be one guy blowing in the wind," said Ragone of the May 3-5 MWC meet.

This weekend, the Scots will compete in the MWC South Division Tournament, playing 18 holes in Jacksonville on Saturday and 18 more in Galesburg on Sunday.

SCOTS TAKE 2-OF-3 IN SOUTH

It’s not clear if the turning point occurred between games on Saturday or during a particularly clutch relief performance an hour or two later, but the result is that the Fighting Scots are back to playing solid baseball and have a three-game winning streak to prove it.

After a wild 16-13 loss to Knox in the opener of Saturday’s Glasgow Field doubleheader, coach Roger Sander certainly had his team’s ear.

"I told them, if you score 13 runs, you should never lose a baseball game," he said, before adding with a smile, "I might have been a little more graphic than that."

The Scots came out with better focus in the nightcap and took a 6-1 lead after senior Jeremy Kakfa’s two-run single in the fifth. But Knox, which had 19 hits on the day, struck back, scoring twice and putting runners on first and second in the sixth with nobody out off MC starter Brian Chandler (Petersburg, Ill./Athens).

"Brian didn’t pitch that bad, but he’d had two long sits in the dugout, and he just wasn’t able to get in a rhythm and be as sharp as normal," said Sander. "So I went with (Ryan) Stubler, and he shut the door. He was lights out."

After Stubler allowed one of his inherited runners to score, he bore down and struck out the side, stranding the tying runs in scoring position.

"I’ve kind of kept him under wraps this year while we develop some of our other pitchers, but he’s done the job every time we’ve asked," said Sander of Stubler, who now sports a 1.12 ERA. Stubler also sports a save, as he stayed in for all four innings to finish off the 11-4 victory.

"After the sixth, he came off the field and said, ‘I want to go again,’" said Sander. "I told him you’re going back out there. It was the same thing after the seventh."

Stubler also contributed offensively, rapping three hits and driving in two. Chandler, who earned the win, is now 5-0 this year.

In the opener, junior Ryan Priola’s three-run homer in the fifth allowed Monmouth to take the lead after being down as much as five runs, but Knox tied the game at 13-13 in the eighth. The Fire then took the lead to stay on Greg Leibach’s three-run homer in the ninth.

On Monday, the Scots completed their four-game set with Illinois College, and their 7-3 victory went a long way toward reserving a spot in the MWC playoffs. Monmouth now holds the tiebreaker against the Blueboys, and the Scots can also earn that distinction against Grinnell with a split on May 5.

Red-hot Kevin Sashko (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) fueled the Scots’ attack with a 4-for-5 effort that included two doubles, two steals and three runs.

"He’s on a tear right now," said Sander. "He’s really locked in. I’ve moved him up to the leadoff spot to let him get as many at-bats as possible. He led off in high school, so he can handle the change."

Stubler added two hits and three RBIs and Priola, who started on the mound, helped his own cause with a run-scoring single in the fifth.

"Ryan gave us five dynamite innings," said Sander.

Although he surrendered a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame to make the score 6-2, relievers Matt Tye (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) and Chris Albanese (Lansing, Ill./Thornton Fractional South) finished with four solid innings to preserve the win. Seniors Jake Bice (Colchester, Ill./West Prairie) and Kafka added two hits apiece, and the Scots did not commit an error.

Sophomore Drew Johnson (North Henderson, Ill./United) left the mound trailing after five innings, but he became the winning pitcher when MC scored twice in the sixth, including the go-ahead run on a double by Stubler. Senior Scott Coles (Lake Villa, Ill./Antioch) pitched two hitless innings for the save.

""This team has been a mystery to me. We can play with anybody and we can to lose to anybody," said Sander, whose Scots are 12-13 on the year. "St. Ambrose is No. 1 in their conference, and our kids hit the ball hard. If we didn’t leave 12 runners on base, we could have scored even more. We just had a real consistent effort, and even though we got down 5-4, our kids never panicked."

A second game in the Quad Cities Tuesday was rained out. Monmouth’s next action is Saturday in Galesburg against the Prairie Fire.

THAT’S MORE LIKE IT: SOFTBALL SWEEPS KNOX

Last Saturday’s 8-4, 17-5 doubleheader loss dropped the Fighting Scots to 1-6 in the Midwest Conference, but with twinbills remaining against Knox, Illinois College and Grinnell, they knew they still had time to get on a roll and qualify for the four-team playoffs.

Tuesday’s 8-5, 8-0 sweep of the Prairie Fire means its "two down, four to go" for the Scots, and coach Kari Shimmin was encouraged by the pair of Scots Day victories.

"We’re continuing to hit," she said after MC smacked 17 hits on the day. "We hit the ball well against Lake Forest (19 hits) and we took that into Knox."

In the nightcap, freshman Valerie Mitchell (Port Byron, Ill./Riverdale) was lights out, allowing just two hits and a walk.

"Val had a lot of movement and looked pretty good," said Shimmin. "I thought both our pitchers (also including Sarah Christensen) did a good job and our defense was solid."

She received support from senior Jackie Hennenfent (Wataga, Ill./ROWVA), who homered, and senior table-setter Drew Robinson (St. Charles, Ill./North), who went 3-for-3 and scored twice. Robinson added three stolen bases during Tuesday’s action and is now one away from tying the MC career record of 38 set by Melinda Mendez.

In the opener, freshman Kembra Bell's three-run double in the second inning staked the Scots to a 5-0 lead, and they held on from there. Juniors Emily Willems (Moline, Ill./Rockridge) and Kristin Bickett (Malden, Ill./Princeton) each added two RBIs.

Monmouth is scheduled to host Illinois College Thursday, but the action will likely be moved to Friday. The Scots then travel to Grinnell on Sunday.

"If we continue to hit this well, we should finish pretty well," said Shimmin, whose team is now 8-17 on the year.

Against the Foresters, the Scots traded runs with their hosts for much of the opener, but Monmouth couldn't match Lake Forest’s three-run sixth. Willems’ two-run single in the fifth put the Scots ahead 4-3, but the Foresters got the runs right back on a pair of homers, including one by Christy Condon.

In the nightcap, Lake Forest pounded three more home runs as part of its 17-hit attack. Condon’s three-run blast in the sixth was the key blow in an eight-run seventh-inning. She finished the twinbill with six RBIs.

Freshman Maggie Dort (Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond-Burton) led the Scots on the day with five hits.

IT’S A SPRING THING

During the fall, women’s golf coach Molly McNamara sometimes had to count triple-digit scores among the best four shot by her team. However, despite a long layoff from last October, the Fighting Scots seemed to be on their games last weekend at the Millikin University Spring Classic at Hickory Point Golf Course in Decatur. Using no score higher than 98, the Scots carded rounds of 385 and 375 to place fifth in the seven-team field.

Monmouth will conclude its mini-spring season with an 18-hole event Thursday at Emeis Golf Course in Davenport, Iowa.

TWO DOZEN SCOTS HEADED TO DRAKE

The Monmouth College track team has a connection with the Drake Relays that dates back more than 80 years. Athletes such as Charles Niblock and John Weatherly experienced success there in the 1920s and ’30s, and MC coach Roger Haynes is hoping that the next wave of Monmouth competitors gets a taste of that success as well.

Thirteen men and 11 women will make the trip to Des Moines for the 98th running of the relays, and that list includes Dante Daniels and Alex Stuart, who will both compete against top Division I athletes. That will also be true of the 4x1600 squad, which includes Zach Barr, Kel Bond, Aaron Etienne and Clay Staley.

Other men’s athletes making the trip to Drake will be Aaron Daverin, Brad Gross, Ryan Hardman, Luke Reschke, senior Josh Reschke (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo), Tyler Rundle and Jacob Stott.

The women’s list includes senior Kila Cox (Granger, Ind./Hononegah), sophomore Lauren Firchau (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland), Brenda Herrera, Sara Ingersoll, Megan McKenna, senior Joni Nelson (Little York, Ill./Yorkwood), senior Jacquie Ouart (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee), Katie Staab, Shannon Turczyn, Katey Vaccarello and Ashley Widdop.

"We’ve got a lot of qualifiers," said Haynes. "I don’t know that we’ve ever had this many."

TANNEY EARNS STARTING SPOT

If a certain former all-conference quarterback was a business venture, it’s safe to say that stockholders in The Mitch Tanney Corp. had a very big week.

Tanney’s stock has steadily risen during his time with the Alabama Steeldogs arena football team. First came the news that he had beaten out another quarterback to make the 22-man roster. Then came last month’s season opener, when Tanney came on in a relief role and looked sharp. His latest appearance off the bench changed the franchise’s course.

Starter Robert Kent was hurt in the third quarter Saturday, and all Tanney did from there was complete 13-of-16 passes for 130 yards and five TDs as the Steeldogs defeated the Louisville Fire 63-47 to improve to 2-1 on the year.

Two days later, the Steeldogs traded Kent for Lubbock Renegades quarterback Justin Midgett and moved Tanney up to No. 1 on the depth chart.

"He’s our starter now," Steeldogs coach Ron Selesky said of Tanney. "He’s got a great opportunity to progress and accomplish the things that we need from him at the QB position."

Tanney made a name for himself at Monmouth with his high passing efficiency ratings, and that has continued at the pro level. In two appearances this season, he is 20-of-26 with seven TDs and no interceptions.

Midgett, his new backup, is a former Ron Zook recruit at the University of Florida who was ranked as one of the top 10 high school quarterbacks in the nation in 2002.

The Steeldogs have very few games in the Midwest this season. They play host to the Quad City Steamwheelers on May 12 and then have road games at Louisville and Cincinnati the next two weekends.