IT’S AUTOMATIC

On the women’s side, senior Jessica White (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg), who had missed two days of practice due to illness, punched her ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the pole vault with a school record and automatic qualifying height of 12’3-1/2. Her mark, which broke her own school record set at last year’s indoor nationals, is tied for the top vault in the nation.

With a performance like that, maybe she should get sick more often.

"Considering she had been sick last week and then come in and vault an automatic height is significant," said MC coach Roger Haynes. "With one year left in her career, she’s got to continue to improve. She wasn’t as technically sound as I think she can be. She is stronger and more physical than in the past, so if she can get more technically sound, she can go quite a bit higher."

Freshman Logan Hohl (Orion, Ill./Orion), who last week just missed a provisional qualifying time in the men’s 55-meter hurdles, turned the trick on his home track while winning the event in 7.61. Hohl’s time is currently the third fastest in the nation and broke the Scots’ freshman record set in 1989 by All-American and 1992 national champion Charles Burton.

"Logan has put himself in an elite group," said Haynes. "We feel if he runs just a little bit better as the season goes on, he’ll guarantee himself a spot at the national meet. That’s pretty impressive for a freshman."

What about breaking Burton’s freshman record? "I think Logan can be a more accomplished high hurdler than Charles was," praised Haynes. "It remains to be seen how good he can be in the 400 hurdles. He’s not at the national championship status yet, but if he continues to run faster that will close the gap substantially."

Haynes also put the pressure on himself. "Logan, like any of our athletes, if he doesn’t continue to improve, we’re not doing our jobs as coaches and he’s not doing his job as an athlete," claimed the veteran coach. "I don’t set any kind of limit for him as to where he’s at now."

All told, the Scots had six athletes in six events post automatic or provisional marks in only the second meet of the season. Senior Jenny Babos’ (Leland, Ill./Somonauk) winning mark in the women’s weight throw (51’5) qualified her provisionally for the March meet. In the men’s competition, senior pole vaulter Jonny Henkins (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee) provisionally qualified with his winning pole vault mark (15’9-3/4). Classmate Peter Sprecher (Canton, Ill./Canton), who made the provisional mark last week, again cleared the mark to finish second (15’5). Another senior, Zach Wilson (Lacon, Ill./Midland) took first in the shot put with a personal-best and provisional mark of 51’7-1/4. He also won the weight throw, posting a provisional distance of 59’8-1/4, besting last week’s provisional performance by 6".

Other firsts for the women came from Megan Clennon in the high jump with a personal-best jump of 5’3 and Lehr in the shot put (40’6). Clennon also had "good" attempts at the provisional high jump height of 5’5. The men received more first place performances from Luke Reschke in the 400-meters with a personal-best time of 49.89 and the 4x200 relay team of Hohl, Reschke, Brad Gross and Saidu Sesay, who turned in what Haynes called a "solid" performance.

Second place finishes for the women were recorded by Babos in the shot put (40’2-1/4); freshman Morgan Leffel, a personal-best 1:02.05 in the 400-meters; and Kaile Schreiner, a personal-best in the 5,000-meters (19:55.74). The women’s 4x200 relay team of Leffel, Jae Moore, Katey Vaccarello and Shannon Turczyn ran to a third place finish (1:51.34).

Clay Staley finished second in the men’s mile (4:25.54) and placed third in the 3,000-meters (8:55.23). "Clay was really solid Saturday," said Haynes. "He ran good times in both of those events."

While Haynes feels the women’s relays can get better, he heaped praise on his newcomers and challenged his veteran relays. "Morgan (Leffel) and Jae (Moore) were very good in the sprints, running multiple races and running well at every distance," he said. "They’re a solid part of our team. I’m really pleased with them. The men’s 4x4 can run a qualifying time, we just need to get a little better there. We’re close to where we were a year ago."

Monmouth and Wartburg’s men tied for second behind Augustana. The Monmouth women finished fourth. "Overall it was a good meet," said Haynes. "Had we spread our men out more, I think we could have had a good shot at winning the meet. We didn’t overdo our sprinters and largely got out of the meet what we wanted to.

"We still need to improve with our juniors and seniors," he continued. "I don’t think they’re where they should be at this time. However, our freshmen are contributing quite well."

The Scots expect to do well this weekend at the Cornell Hilltop Open. "We’ve had some good meets there," said Haynes, who may break out some old tape of assistant coaches Woodard and Dennis Staggs for inspiration.

If history repeats itself, be prepared for more national qualifiers this weekend.

SCOTS SHORT, BUT EFFICIENT

"We expect to have everyone back next week," said Crawford. "It will be nice to have two full squads in the pool which is something we haven’t been able to do in 2008. Despite missing so many people, we still had a good day so I was pleased with the effort and we turned in some good swims."

Good swims, indeed. Monmouth’s men finished 1-2 in four events. The 200-yard medley relay "A" Team of Dan Campione, Kevin Satler, John Kaiser and Tom Pederson touched first (1:48.40), Josh Van Swol, Brant Furr, Harrison Heilman and Steven Whittle filled out the "B" Team and finished second (1:51.39). Van Swol took first in the 100- backstroke (59.62), Campione was second (1:02.45). Satler won the 100- and 200- breaststroke (1:06.65 and 2:26.57, respectively), Furr was second in the 100- breaststroke (1:11.46) and Kaiser was second in the 200- breaststroke (a personal-best 2:31.73).

Seconds came from Ed Novak in the 1000-yard freestyle (11:00.65) and the 500- freestyle (5:13.24); Kaiser in the 200- freestyle (1:59.61) and the 200- individual medley (2:11.55); Heilman in the 200- butterfly (a personal-best 2:16.24); Campione in the 50- freestyle (24.34); Van Swol in the 200- backstroke (2:07.97); and Whittle in the 100- butterfly (1:01.33).

"Ed (Novak) had some of our better swims on the day," reported Crawford. "His 1000- and 500- freestyles were both season-bests. His 500- time just missed being a lifetime-best. Josh (Van Swol) turned in a season-best in the 100- backstroke and Jack (Clifford) had another fine performance in diving."

The Scots women had solid performances from their limited squad. Megan Wentzlaff and Jessica DeMink finished 1-2 in the 200- breaststroke (2:52.46 and 2:52.48, respectively). Jessica Houser, DeMink, Wentzlaff and Heather Plum teamed up to win the 200-yard medley relay (2:10.39). Wentzlaff also took first in the 1000- freestyle (12:04.97) and the 200- individual medley (2:35.79). Sally Thomas touched first in the 100- butterfly (1:16.19) and the 200- butterfly (2:45.68).

Monmouth’s seconds for the women came from Plum in the 200- freestyle (2:09.78), 500- freestyle (5:43.95) and the 100- freestyle (1:00.83); Houser in the 100- backstroke (a season-best 1:13.31); and DeMink in the 100- breaststroke (1:20.94).

"I was very pleased with the women," praised Crawford. "We had quite a few season-best times. It was a very good competitive team effort, despite missing our top swimmers. Lauren Nelson (1:13.49 in the 100- backstroke, 2:37.55 in the 200- backstroke) and Jessica Houser (2:46.76 in the 200- backstroke) both had season-best times."

The Scots travel to St. Peters, Mo., this weekend for a triangular with Lindenwood and John Brown Universities before taking next weekend off in preparation for the Feb. 15-17 conference meet.

THE THRILL OF VICTORY, AND THE AGONY OF DEFEAT

For one-and-a-half games, the women’s basketball team was on top of the world.

The Scots were riding high after handing St. Norbert their first league loss in last Friday’s 70-59 win, but that euphoria came crashing down after Saturday’s 72-59 loss to Beloit. "All around we were very consistent," said MC coach Melissa Jones of the win over the Green Knights. "Offensively, we attacked their man-to-man. Defensively, we held a very good offensive team to 59 points. That’s tremendous defense."

"We stopped moving the ball," lamented Jones. "We started out attacking their zone and doing a great job. We got great perimeter shooting and attacking from Lynsey Barnard, we packed the inside. Ashley Yeast got some great shots down low and we made them come out of their zone. At that point, we were thinking ‘Alright, we’re making them do something they don’t want to do.’ But all of a sudden, we didn’t move the ball around against their man-to-man."

The Scots had their way with the St. Norbert man defense less than 24 hours earlier, leading for the final 31 minutes. Monmouth had four players score double-digits against the Knights (Melissa Gorski, 20; Yeast, 14; Elise Waldorf, 12; Katie Sheets, 12), but struggled against the Bucs. "That’s somewhat of a mystery," said Jones. "I felt like Norbert played better man defense than Beloit and we destroyed St. Norbert’s defense."

Once the Scots relinquished the lead early in the second half, the Bucs took charge. "Number 33 (Angie Meehan) hit some threes and that really gave them some momentum," said Jones. "We let them have it and didn’t take it back."

The Scots are off until a road game at Grinnell Tuesday and Jones can’t wait. "Darby is a tough place to play," claimed Jones. "I have yet to win there, so I’m incredibly hungry to win in that gym. It’ll be tough, Grinnell always shoots well in their gym. We’ve always been close and that’s what’s been so frustrating."

VACATION PLANS

The Scots’ basketball teams will have 10 days off before they hit the road for their next game Tuesday.

The Green Knights posted a 73-58 overtime win against the Scots in a game that saw 11 lead changes. The Scots, who trailed by as many as nine midway through the second half, seemed to get new life when Blaise Rogers’ layup in the final 30 seconds of regulation tied the game at 55-55. Overtime was forced when the Knights’ Tony Jandron failed to hit a last second shot. The extra session was anything but kind to Monmouth, who made just 1-of-11 attempts in the extra five minutes and were outscored 18-3 in the period.

"We’ve won some close games, but it was a case again of hitting some long dry periods," said MC coach Mark Vershaw. "We came out flat, got down, and then tried to kick it in. We did that at Ripon and turned around and did it with St. Norbert."

Monmouth couldn’t recuperate for Saturday and fell to Beloit 67-60. A week earlier, the Scots had posted a 24-point victory over the Bucs on their home court. In the rematch, the Bucs took the lead midway through the first half and never relinquished it.

"It was another case of the second day of a double-header weekend," said Vershaw. "We’ve tried everything under the sun from practice to rotations to give us some energy, but so far nothing has worked. It speaks to our conditioning this season from Day One. When we have that quick turnaround, our guys are not recuperating as quickly as the other teams."

Vershaw has found a common denominator in the last three losses. "It takes too much energy to get back into a game after we spot our opponents a 10-point lead," he observed. "When that happens, we’re really tired down the stretch and can’t hang on. It happened at Ripon, with St. Norbert and with Beloit."

Senior post Joe Terwelp averaged 23.5 ppg last weekend, and Vershaw estimates his production could be even better. "If we were a better shooting team, I think Joe could average around 30 a game," he said. "We’re averaging less than 30-percent on threes, so teams are able to sit back on him, which makes what he’s doing even more remarkable. He’s really been a mainstay for us."

While applauding Terwelp’s work, Vershaw heaped praise on a bench player and three newcomers. "Wes Wrage (4-of-5, 9 points) played well for us Saturday and that was good to see," he said. "I really like what our three freshmen guards (Eric Grant, Corey Gruber and Alex Tanney) are doing. We have some good building blocks."

Monmouth is in the midst of a 10 day break and will resume Tuesday at Grinnell. Vershaw cautions his squad can’t be slow out of the gate. "It can’t be another case of too little, too late," said Vershaw of the upcoming game with the high-octane Pioneers. "With 10 days off, we’ll have a chance to work on some things. We have a very tough schedule and all but one game will be on the road. We’re going to have to correct some things and work on toughness to close out ball games."

THE WEEK OF THE SCOTTISH WOMEN

Forget the men, a trio of Scots women were honored this week by the Midwest Conference as Performers of the Week in their respective sports.

Senior Ashley Yeast (Sciota, Ill./West Prairie) posted her third and fourth consecutive double-doubles and closed to within a breath of the college’s career rebounding record last weekend to claim the MWC honor in women’s basketball.

Megan Wentzlaff (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) accounted for four of the Monmouth women’s six first-place finishes at the Coe College dual meet last week and claimed her first POW honor in women’s swimming.

Wentzlaff won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:52.46), the 1000- freestyle (12:04.97) and the 200- individual medley (2:35.79). The senior teamed with classmates Jessica DeMink, Heather Plum and sophomore Jessica Houser to win the 200- medley relay (2:10.39).

Senior thrower Jenny Babos (Leland, Ill./Somonauk) was dominating in last weekend’s Midwest Invitational indoor track meet at Monmouth College and was named the MWC’s Women’s Field Performer of the Week.

Competing at her home venue, Babos blasted her competition in the weight throw. The senior slung the weight a provisional-qualifying 51’5, beating her nearest competitor by six feet. The mark ranks her 10th in the nation. She then threw a personal-best 40’2-1/4 in the shot to finish second, less than four inches behind the winner.

THE WEEK AHEAD

SCOTSIVATIONAL