Dan Evers vaulted himself past a national champion and Joanna Podosek ran into the nation's top 10 as Monmouth College opened their home indoor track and field season Saturday on the newly resurfaced Niblock Track inside the Huff Athletic Center.
"It was a typical Week 2 meet," reported Roger Haynes ('82). "What was down the first week tends to be up and what was up tends to be down. Some of the distance and long sprinters were better. We had some groups who trended up, and some who trended down. That usually happens early in the season until everyone finds their rhythm in practice."
Evers, for one, broke that pattern was one of those 'trending up" – literally, for the second straight meet. A week after clearing 17' for the first time in the indoor pole vault, Evers bettered his own mark with a winning vault Saturday of 17'2-3/4", breaking the previous program record set in 2008 by Monmouth's Peter Sprecher ('08) who had won the outdoor national title the year before. In the process, Evers also set the fieldhouse record in the pole vault, besting the mark he set one year ago and previously held by a pair of Scots – Sprecher and two-time national champion Jonny Henkins ('08). The mark kept Evers ranked second in the national standings, but closed the gap to less than 4".
"We're preparing to get him on some different poles that will improve his grip height," explained Haynes. "The school record is always a good thing, although he wasn't very clean on his vaults Saturday. He was much better on Thursday in practice leading up to the meet. That's a sign there are better things to come for him."
Podosek ran into the nation's top 10 in the 800-meters. The senior won by nearly 13 seconds, breaking the tape in 2:20.76 to rank ninth nationally. Kate Saulcy placed fourth in the event with a time of 2:35.83.
"Joanna ran a really strong 800," said Haynes. "She was even keeled and looked strong throughout the race with a good lead."
Lilly Mendez logged a pair of wins in the throws where she led three Scots in the top four of the shot put. The senior heaved the shot a winning distance of 39'3-1/4" for the win. Hannah McVey took third (36'0-1/4") and Leigha Sebben placed fourth (35'11-1/4"). Mendez was just 2" shy of her personal best in winning the weight throw with a mark of 50'8-1/4".
"As a senior and returning conference champion, we kind of expect that type of performance from Lilly," said Haynes of the pair of Mendez wins. "She certainly has more left in her. We've happy with the progress Hannah and Leigha have made as well, but we need all three of them to continue to get better."
John Hintz took first in the men's shot where he turned out a throw of 50'6-1/4". Joe Krall was Monmouth's top man in the weight throw with a fourth-place mark and personal best of 52'2".
"John's got that ability," said Haynes of Hintz' win. "He's made good progress and we'll need that at the conference meet next month. Joe is getting off to a good start. Our men throws group is strong conference-ranking-wise with Ben Stillwell and Drew Thaxton, but they'll need to continue to progress."
Vaughn Gentzler raced to the win in the men's 60-meter hurdles, besting last year's teammate by one one-hundredth of a second. His time of 8.53 edged Monmouth alum Payton Holmes ('17) for bragging rights between the two.
"I don't know if the hurdle race was for bragging rights, but it was a fun race for both of them," said Haynes of the Gentzler vs. Holmes matchup. "Vaughn did run a solid race and he had good legs in both the 4x2 and 4x4 relays."
Monmouth's distance runners also turned in solid performances. Runner up finishes highlighted the men's and women's 3K and the women's mile races. Cooper Pauley was the runner up in the men's 3K, clocking a 9:04.60, just seven seconds off the winning pace and Caitlyn Allen was less than five seconds behind the winner in the women's race with an 11:06.93. Stephanie Saey was just three seconds behind the winner in the mile where she crossed in 5:27.41.
"We've got a versatile distance group with Joanna (Podosek), Stephanie and Caitlyn," praised Haynes. "It was Stephanie's first race this year and Caitlyn's second. Caitlyn ran a good mile in the opener. Having those kinds of times out of those three this early, combined with their versatility, bodes well for later in the season."
The Scots took fourth in three other races – the men's 60 dash, men's 800 and the women's 600. Stone Darrow was just three one-hundredths off his PR to place fourth in the 60 at 7.20 after clocking a PR of 7.17 in the season-opener at Dubuque. A 1:59.40 by Tate Heiple in the 800 was less than a second out of a runner up finish and Kacie Moran clocked a 1:56.37 in the 600.
"Tate was really strong in the 800," reported Haynes. "He also ran well in the 4x4."
Monmouth's women bunched their finishes in the high jump where Madi Schulenberg cleared 5'0-1/2" to lead a 2-3-4 finish. Aleeka Gentzler and Darice Brooks each cleared 4'8-3/4" with Gentzler claiming third and Brooks fourth based on the number of attempts to clear the height.
The Scots also took first place in both the men's and women's 4x200 relays, when Darrow and Gentzler teamed with Chandler Diehl and Lucas Sondgeroth to clock a 1:32.27 and Podosek ran with Cynthia Myers, Vanessa Caldwell and Isabella Kosier to run a 1:49.58.
"Stone had a good day," said Haynes of Darrow's events. "He was solid leading off the 4x2 and had a 52.9 in his first attempt at the open 400 which is a good place to start. We'll need Stone to be one of our main guys in the sprints. (Freshman) Alex Cutright also had a good day running a mid-53 in the 400. That's a good start for a freshman, and he also ran a 52.7 on a leg of the 4x4. He's definitely making progress.
"Joanna (Podosek) had quite a combination running the 800 and two different relays," praised Haynes. "She ran a leg on the 4x2 for the first time and gave us a solid seed time for the conference meet. We were a bit short on the 4x2, but Joanna stepped in and ran a leg. Her split time shouldn't be surprising. Our philosophy is that you should always be good one race lower than your normal distance. She does some 200-meter pace work, so it's not like that was a completely new distance."
Monmouth will travel a distance for this weekend's meets. The men will compete Friday at UW-Whitewater, then it's the women's turn on Saturday.
"It's a bigger meet, so even without the men and women competing on the same day, the time between events should be about the same," said Haynes. "Sometimes, sitting around is harder than just going straight into another race without the appropriate recovery time."
