April 6, 2004

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This Week: Miami University's men's track & field team returns to Oxford for its only regular season home meet of the season, the Miami Invitational, on Saturday, April 10th. Eight teams visit George L. Rider Track for the 2004 installment of the annual meet.

Last Time Out: The RedHawks opened their season with a strong showing at the Duke Invitational, April 2-3, in Durham. Freshman Jake Dunkleberger (Swyrna, Ga./The Lovell School) topped the field in the hammer throw in his first meet with the Red and White. Despite it being a non-scoring event, Miami posted nine top-10 finishes over the weekend.

Miami Invitational Field: The Miami Invitational features an eight-team field of familiar foes. Returning from last year's meet is Butler, Cedarville, Louisville, Purdue, Valparaiso and 2003 Miami Invite Champions Ball State. New this year are local rival, Cincinnati, and conference foe, Ohio.

2003 Miami Invite: Ball State topped the field at the 2003 Miami Invitational, as the Cardinals and RedHawks ran away with the meet. Three points out of first, Miami finished 128.5 points ahead of third-place Louisville. Eric Steyer (Defiance, Ohio/Defiance), Eric Bowman (Dayton, Ohio/Dayton Christian), Erik Reynolds (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East), Nick Somerville (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) and Will Stanley (Cleveland, Ohio/Trinity) all return this year after picking up wins in 2003.

Preview of What's to Come: A pair of highly-touted freshmen made dazzling debuts in their first outdoor meet with the Red and White at the Duke Invitational. Jake Dunkleberger and Jake Kuhner (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington) each put their names on Miami top-10 lists in their outdoor debuts. Dunkleberger is second in school history with his first-place hammer throw of 197-6, behind Dennis Kline's school-record throw of 206-7 in 1989. A pole vaulter, Kuhner cleared 16-0 3/4 in taking fourth, and putting him ninth all-time at Miami. Kuhner has a way to go before breaking Jeff Ward's (1982) school-record vault of 18-2 1/2, but could work his way up a few slots with a solid freshman campaign.

Home-Track Advantage?: The Mid-American Conference announced the relocation of this year's outdoor conference championship to Miami University. The event was initially awarded to Western Michigan, but delays in construction to the WMU facilities caused the relocation to Miami's George L. Rider Track. The 2004 MAC Outdoor Championships are scheduled for May 13-15. Oxford last hosted the outdoor championships in 2001.

Showing Their Smarts: Junior David Mitchell (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South) has been named an academic all-American, while Miami University's men's cross country team earned academic all-American team with distinction status from the USCCCA, head coach Warren Mandrell announced earlier this week. The RedHawks earned academic all-American team status last season, as well.

Mitchell, who is redshirting the track season to study abroad in England, was an all-American at the NCAA meet, and boasts a 3.73 GPA. He, along with senior Brian Godsey (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) and freshman Ryan Hutton (Columbus, Ind./North), helped the RedHawks post a 3.33 team GPA. Godsey was named to the President's List this past fall for achieving a 4.00, while Hutton earned Dean's List honors in his first collegiate semester.

Up Next: The Red and White returns to action at next week's All-Ohio Championships, April 16-17 in Columbus. Hosted by Ohio State, the annual event features the majority of Ohio collegiate teams competing for state bragging rights.