May 22, 1998

ST. PAUL, Minn. - UW-Stout's Jason Lehman (Sr, Bruce) launched a toss of 55-feet, 3.50-inches in the shot put to win first place and a national title at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships Friday, May 22 at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn.

Lehman, whose toss was two inches short of the school record, was attempting to win the national title that has eluded him in two previous outdoor shot put attempts and three indoor attempts. Lehman edged out Nathan Grim of Gettysburg, Pa., College, who recorded a throw of 55-1.50.

Lehman will attempt to win his second national title Saturday when he throws the discus.

In Stout's only other entry today, Tim Hamill (Jr, Brookfield) placed 14th in the 3000-meter steeplchase in a time of 9-minutes, 37.01 seconds.

May 21, 1998

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The first day of competition at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., was not kind to the UW-Stout track and field teams.

No Blue Devil competitor advanced out of preliminaries or placed in a finals event.

Jason Lehman (Sr, Bruce) placed 15th in the hammer throw (160-3), but will get two more chances at an All-America award. Lehman competes in the shot put Friday and the discus Saturday.

The 4 X 400-meter relay team of John Boldt (Sr, Hartland), Chris Valois (Sr, Anoka, Minn), Billy Busch (Jr, Dickeyville) and Ryan Geier (Fr, McFarland) came up short in their bid to reach the finals, finishing 11th in a time of 3:15.80. The top nine advanced to the finals Saturday.

Katie Jacobson (Jr, Eau Claire) simply ran out of gas in the 1500-meter run, placing 13th in a time of 4:41.62. The top 12 advanced to Saturday's finals. Katy Olsen (Jr, Rice Lake) finished 11th in the 10,000-meter run in a time of 37:36.40. The 10,000 was a finals event.

Women's Tennis

May 20, 1998

MENOMONIE - He used to face off against UW-Stout on the tennis courts. Now he will be the UW-Stout women's tennis coach.

Craig Monson, a former UW-Eau Claire tennis standout, has been named the Blue Devil head women's coach, athletic director Steve Terry announced.

Monson, an Eau Claire native, joins the Blue Devil staff after a three year stint at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., where he coached the men's program for three years and the women's program for one year. In Monson's first season with the men's program, he directed the Scots to a fifth place finish at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) tournament, Macalester's best finish in more than 25 years. His women's team accomplished the same feat.

While at UW-Eau Claire from 1989-92, Monson, 28, was an NAIA District 14 doubles champion in 1992 when the Blugolds also won the District 14 title to advance to national competition. The Blugolds were also the Wisconsin State University Conference (WSUC) champion that year.

Monson stayed on at Eau Claire as an assistant coach in 1993 and 1994, and the Blugolds repeated as District 14 champion in 1993.

Monson believes in working hard and will work right along side with his charges.

"I will be out there doing the work with them," Monson said. "When they do the drills, I will do the drills."

While Monson has not had a chance to review his team, he expects improvement from the team.

"I would like us to move up at least one spot in the conference," Monson said. "We will work to become more aggressive and will also work on fundamentals."

But working at an NCAA Division III school is not lost on Monson.

"I know they are here for school because they are at a Division III school," Monson said. "While at Macalester, which has a high standard of academics, we learned to balance academics and athletics."

"We are pleased to have someone on board with the experience and background Craig brings with him," Terry said. "We anticipate Craig will continue to move the Blue Devil program forward."

A graduate of Eau Claire Memorial, Monson was a three-time conference doubles champion, three-time sectional doubles champion and was ranked in the top ten of the state for three years.

Monson was an assistant coach at Memorial for both the boys and girls programs from 1990-93 and has also been a teaching professional in Eau Claire, St. Paul, Minn., and Salt Lake City, Utah.