Scots' Track Opens Season with Personal-Bests, National Marks at Home

Monmouth, IL (01/19/2020) — Monmouth's track season opened at home for 2020 and the Scots got a clear picture of a promising season as the squads turned in numerous lifetime marks and three national top 10 efforts at the non-scored seven team meet.

The Fighting Scots opened their season turning in six first-place finishes - four by the men and two from the women. Both 4x200-meter relay teams won their events. Stone Darrow, Darius Williams, Zach Vancil and Alexander Brock broke the tape in 1:33.10, winning by a little under three seconds. Jordan Peckham, Kenzie Baker, Vanessa Caldwell and Cindy Ladner finished first in the women's race where they clocked a 1:48.04 to win by more than six seconds.

Peckham also added a win in the 300 where she clocked a personal-best and Monmouth honor roll time of 42.95. Darrow was just two one-hundredths off his lifetime-best in the 60 dash where he turned in the 10th-fastest time in the nation with a runner up finish in 6.97.

Freshman Reed Wilson won his first collegiate competition. The pole vaulter cleared 13'11-1/4", nearly a foot higher than the runner up. Alex Cutright also placed in the vertical jumps, taking third in the high jump, clearing 6'2".

The Scots' other wins came in the 3K and weight throw events. Griff Morrill finished first in the distance event, crossing in 9:08.46, seven seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, and then teamed with Jonah Cecil, Gavin Conway and Riley Dulin to run the nation's sixth-best time in the distance medley relay where they finished second in 10:50.47. Joe Krall commanded the weight throw with the fifth-best throw nationally, a toss of 58'0-1/4", three feet ahead of teammate and runner up Drew Thaxton's heave of 55'1". Thaxton also took second in the shot put with a mark of 49'2-1/2".

Monmouth's field event women turned in four top three performances. Hannah McVey placed second in the weight throw with a career-best effort of 52'1-1/4" while Megan Gilstrap took third at 49'11-3/4". Ladner and Kareema Lawal each placed third in the long jump and shot put, respectively. Ladner soared a personal-best 17'6-1/4" and Lawal put the shot 38'7", a mere 2" out of second place.

Four personal-bests were recorded in the women's 60 dash where Ladner and Baker ran PRs in the prelims and finals on their way to a 2-3 finish. Ladner PRed in the prelims with an 8.15 and bettered the time in the finals with an 8.12 to finish in the runner up position. Baker turned in a lifetime best of 8.14 in the prelims and equaled the time in the finals to place third.

The Scots took a pair of seconds and thirds in the longer races where Dulin ran to a runner up finish in the men's 800, clocking a 2:04.82, :02 off the winning pace. On the women's side, Ezzie Baltierra-Chavez and Caroline Young finished 2-3 in the 3K. Baltierra-Chavez crossed in 11:12.04, less than two seconds behind the winner. Young was a solid third in 11:19.86, finishing more than 30 seconds ahead of the next finisher. Mik Moore's 1:47.17 in the 600 placed her third, less than a second out of a runner up finish.

The Scots travel to the St. Ambrose Invitational for their next meet on Jan. 25.