MONMOUTH – Roger Haynes was named the Midwest Conference men’s Coach of the Year, Dan Evers the men’s field event Performer of the Meet and Seth Andersen the Men’s Newcomer of the Year as Monmouth College’s men won the league team outdoor track and field title for the 17th time in the last 18 years while the Scots’ women were second.
Monmouth’s men won their third straight title, following a strong Day 1 competition at the 2018 Midwest Conference Track and Field Championships held at Monmouth’s April Zorn Memorial Stadium.
It was a three-peat for Dan Evers who won his third pole vault title with a Friday height of 17’1”. The senior also turned in a long jump win at 22’11-3/4”, just ahead of freshman Seth Andersen’s 22’1” leap. Darius Williams was fourth at 21’9”.
Tyler Bland joined Evers in defending a league title. A year after running away with the steeplechase crown, Bland did it again, outrunning the field by 20 seconds with a personal-best 9:38.37. The Saturday title came after Bland took fourth in the men’s 1500 on Friday, finishing in 4:03.50.
Andersen became a double winner in the field events. The freshman won Friday’s high jump where he cleared 6’4” and followed on Saturday with a 45’3-1/2” effort to win the triple jump.
Double winners were the order of the weekend as Madi Schulenberg crushed her personal-best by 17’ in the javelin, winning with a throw of 139’6” on Friday, a day before winning the high jump clearing 5’2-1/2”, the same height as runner up Aleeka Gentzler. Darice Brooks made it a 1-2-3 Monmouth finish, placing third at 5’0-1/2”.
Joanna Podosek broke the tape in the 1,500 with a Monmouth honor roll time of 4:38.52, a day before winning the 800 with a Scots’ record of 2:12.97.
John Hintz led a strong men’s throws group on Friday, setting the program record to win the hammer throw with a toss of 182’2” to set the new Fighting Scots’ standard. Joe Krall’s lifetime-best of 178’ was good for the runner up spot.
Led by Krall, the Scots men took the three through six positions in Saturday’s shot put. His mark of 48’6-3/4” was a half-inch ahead of Hintz who took a win Friday in the discus with a throw of 158’5”. Drew Thaxton placed fifth in the shot at 45’5-1/4”, 3” better than Ben Stillwell.
Distance specialist Caitlyn Allen ran to a runner up finish in the 5K, clocking an 18:25.32, a day after she turned in a career-best in the 10K where she clocked A 40:00.11 to place third.
Friday produced a PR for Lilly Mendez in the shot put where she won with a heave of 43’3-3/4”. She followed with a fourth-place finish in Saturday’s hammer throw with a mark of 141’11”, 9” farther than Hannah McVey’s fifth place effort. McVey turned in a third-place finish in the discus with a throw of 119’1”. Lucas Sondgeroth scored fourth-place points in the men’s javelin, throwing the spear 151’10”.
The Scots ran to a pair of runner up finishes in the relays. The men’s team of Vaughn Gentzler, Stone Darrow, Darius Williams and Sondgeroth clocked a 42.35 in the 4x100. The women’s 4x400 team of Cynthia Myers, Vanessa Caldwell, Blessid Smith and Podosek raced to a 4:04.33.
Gentzler added a pair of seconds in the hurdle races while Caldwell scored a pair of fourth-place finishes. Gentzler, who had he top time in the Friday prelims, placed second in the finals of the 100 hurdles in 15.32 and second in the 400 hurdle event at 54.63. Caldwell’s fourth-place efforts included a 15.54 in the 100 hurdles and a 1:05.87 in the 400 hurdles.
In the sprints, Darrow placed second in the 200 with a 21.74, less than two-tenths out of the lead, and third in the 100 at 10.92. Chandler Diehl clocked a 49.70 in the 400-meter dash, just in front of Zach Vancil’s 50.23. Isabella Kosier turned in the second-fastest time in the women’s 400 with a 58.88. Myers took third in the 200 (25.84).
The Scots will send a select group to a Last Chance Meet in the coming week ahead of the NCAA Outdoor Championships May 24-25 in La Crosse, Wis.