MONMOUTH, Ill. – If the Monmouth College track team is to continue its seven-year run of sweeping the men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor Midwest Conference titles, the Fighting Scots will have to do it without many returning league champions.

Monmouth’s men return no league winners from the indoor season and the women have just one returning indoor title holder. The Scots do have a lot of potential despite the lack of individual conference champions.

“It will be a new experience for a lot of our athletes,” reported coach Roger Haynes. “Our success may hinge on the progress our freshmen and sophomores make. We’ve got a lot of kids who were twos and threes last year and they’ll need to step up to No. 1 this year in order for us to be successful. We’ve got some potentially elite performers in pretty much every area.”

Indoors, Monmouth’s men return two runners with conference titles from a year ago. Senior Shane Reschke (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo) and sophomore Kiante Green (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick) were half of the league champion 4x200 relay team. The pair is the base of what could be a formidable sprint group.

Reschke and sophomores Garrett Daniel (Glenwood, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor) and Eric Brown (Montgomery, Ill./Oswego East) formed three-quarters of the provisional NCAA qualifying 4x400 relay last season. Daniel is expected to handle the 400- and 800-meter races, Brown figures to be featured in the 200 and 400, and Green is touted as a short sprinter.

“Garrett will do a solid job for us,” predicted Haynes. “He ran well in the 400 at the end of last year and we hope he blossoms in the 800. Eric was a high scorer a year ago and Kiante has some of the better times in the conference among the returners. Shane has the experience and should fill in well anywhere from 100 to 400 meters.”

A successful cross country season has the Scots optimistic when it comes to the distance races. Senior Jon Welty (Dixon, Ill./Newman) returns with one of the league’s best indoor mile times from a year ago and is joined by juniors Jake Barr (Mendota, Ill./Mendota), Matt Gatlin (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) and Paul Davies (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Kaneland). The quartet is fresh off an all-conference cross country season.

“I’m curious to see how they will transfer the cross country success to the track,” said Haynes. “They should do well in races from 1,500 to 10,000 meters. Some of our younger distance guys should be able to help us out with some relays as well. Traditionally, we’ve made improvements in the conference competition between the cross country and track seasons.”

When it comes to field events, the Scots will have to make up for the graduation of field event performers who had claimed 12 indoor titles in their careers.

Junior DeAndre Smith (Carbondale, Ill./Carbondale) is the only indoor field event returner for the men with a league title, winning the discus last spring. Senior Jake Nysather (Sterling, Ill./Newman) will give the Scots a good one-two veteran punch. With the addition of freshman Kyle Orwig (Havana, Ill./Lewistown), Haynes feels the group should improve throughout the season.

In the high jump, senior Matt Hassler (Ladd, Ill./Hall) had been in the shadow of national champion Tyler Hannam and two-time All-American Nick Byom. Hassler will have the chance to cast his own shadow this season. He’ll be joined by sophomore all-stater Scott Duncan (Galesburg, Ill./United).

“Matt now has the opportunity to step into the limelight,” said Haynes of the graduation loss of Hannam and Byom. “He’ll need to provide leadership and solid scoring for us.”

As for the loss of two All-American high jumpers, Haynes has turned that into a positive.

“Nick has joined us as an assistant coach,” said Haynes of Byom. “That has been a very good addition. He’s been a huge help in practice and in the weight room. He’ll be able to monitor the high jump and leave me free to take care of other events. It’s always good to have an extra set of trained eyes.”

Pole vaulter Steven Andris (Kewanee, Ill./Wethersfield) will be among the freshmen Haynes is counting on to fill a few voids. Andris, like Duncan, earned all-state honors as a prep performer.

The Scots have a bevy of potential in the long and triple jumps, where junior Karston Anderson (La Grange, Ill./Lyons) has “shown good improvement” and is expected to continue that trend in 2012. Freshmen James Wilson (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) and Michel Massamba (Spring Valley, Ill./St. Bede) – another all-stater – are expected to provide “solid” contributions.

The women – like the men – are a bit thin on indoor title winners, but will be defending six outdoor titles.

“We certainly have returners who have had good performances,” said Haynes. “It’s time for some of those returners to step up and be the No. 1 person in their events. That’s a very different thing. Jae Moore and Morgan Leffel graduated and they covered a lot of events for us over the course of their careers. They will be difficult to replace.”

Haynes’ stable of sophomores – Kimarri Campbell (Chicago, Ill./Rock Falls), Bailey Jackson (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg), Kenzie Payton (Alexis, Ill./Galesburg) and Alexa Allen (Port Byron, Ill./Riverdale) – should provide tough sprint competition. All ran top 10 league times last season. Allen and Jackson also qualified for the NCAA outdoor nationals in the hurdles and in the long jump/triple jump, respectively. Freshman Stephanie O’Dell (Byron, Ill./Stillman Valley) is also expected to be in the mix of talented sprinters.

“Kimarri has very good returning statistics,” praised Haynes. “Bailey scored outdoors for us last season in the 100 and 200. Kenzie also had a good outdoor season last spring. Alexa was an All-American indoors in the hurdles, but needs to step up even more in the sprints. We have talented runners, but the sprints have a very thin margin for error.”

In the distance races, Haynes is counting on five all-conference cross country performers to form the nucleus of a strong group. Juniors Rachel Bowden (Farmer City, Ill./Lexington), Tori Beaty (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Huntley), Brittney Frazier (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) and Marlee Lane (Round Lake Beach, Ill./Grayslake North) and sophomore Alyssa Edwards (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) bring top credentials and versatility to the track.

Bowden, fresh off her first national qualifying performance from the cross country season, is expected to focus on races between 800 and 3,000 meters. Edwards and Lane figure to race primarily in the mile range while Frazier and Beaty should specialize in the longer races.

The Scots return league champions in most of the field events.

Junior Allison Devor (St. Charles, Ill./East) won indoor weight throw and shot put titles last season and earned All-American status in both events. Senior Amanda Streeter (Port Byron, Ill./Riverdale) spent last fall off campus in the college’s study abroad program, but returns for her final campaign as the defending hammer throw and discus champion.

“Amanda is in better shape this season,” reported Haynes of Streeter’s fitness level. “She’s got some work to do when it comes to weight training to get back to her previous level.”

Sophomore Raven Robinson (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) and junior Kayla Corzine (Danville, Ill./Oakwood) round out the early-season throwers. Corzine – a former two-sport athlete – is focusing solely on track this season. Devor, Streeter, Corzine and Robinson had the league’s top four outdoor shot put performances last spring.

Conference outdoor high jump champion Marla Willard (Pittsfield, Ill./Pittsfield) and indoor national qualifier Emily Tysma (Hillsdale, Ill./Riverdale) return for their sophomore seasons. Another sophomore, Morgan Ryan (Metamora, Ill./Metamora), is the top conference returner in the pole vault.

The Scots’ also have high hopes in the horizontal jumps, where national qualifier MacKinsey Marquith (Knoxville, Ill./Knoxville), a junior, joins Jackson in returning to the outdoor long jump. The duo finished last year’s outdoor season ranked in the top four in the long and triple jumps.

Since 2005 no team other than Monmouth has won the men’s or women’s indoor and outdoor meets. Haynes believes 2012 will produce some stiff competition in all four championships.

“Carroll and St. Norbert have certainly been strong challengers on the women’s side,” reported Haynes. “I don’t see where that will change. Those two schools also have very good men’s teams, as does Ripon and Grinnell. I’d expect they’ve all brought in some good freshmen.”

For his part, Haynes has 20 new faces on his rosters this season. He’ll count on those newcomers and a solid group of returners to challenge for another MWC title, if they can do two things.

“We have to stay healthy,” warned Haynes of the first priority. “Our kids will have to rise to the occasion when conference rolls around. We graduated a lot of good people with big meet experience. We don’t have that experience now, so it’s time for those understudies to step to the forefront. That will determine how our season goes.”