Dec. 3, 2009

CLEVELAND - Three Miami University men’s cross country runners have been named to the 2009 Academic All-Mid-American Conference Team, the league office announced Wednesday evening, while no other school placed more than one runner on the eight-member squad. Senior Paul Krebs (Kettering, Ohio) was placed on the squad for the third straight year while fellow senior Kevin Silver (Beachwood, Ohio) garnered the distinction for the second straight season and redshirt freshman David Eichenberger (Plainfield, Ind.) was honored in his first year racing for the RedHawks.

Miami has now placed three runners on the Academic All-MAC Team each of the last three years and led the league in honorees each of those seasons as well (Miami tied Eastern Michigan with three selections in 2007). Krebs joins Pat Sovacool (2006-08) as the only other men’s RedHawk cross country runner to receive Academic All-MAC plaudits three years during their career.

Krebs carries a 3.97 grade-point average, tops on the team, while majoring in zoology. He finished in Miami’s scoring five in five out of six meets this year. His top 8K time of the year came at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational (25:38) where he was third on the team and 14th overall (of 408 runners), helping the RedHawks win the team title. Krebs placed 18th overall (second on the team) at the MAC Championship in 26:36, just missing All-MAC honors. His time of 25:39 at Pre-Nationals was his second-best 8K time in 2009 as he was fourth on the team and 138th overall. Krebs was the second finisher at the Great Lakes Regional with a career-best regional finish of 52nd. At the season-opening Dayton 5K Invitational, he took seventh overall (second on the team) in a 5K personal-best time of 15:18.

Silver, who holds a 3.77 GPA and is an accounting and finance major, was Miami’s top finisher in four out of six races this year, with his best finish coming at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational where he was the individual runner-up (of 408 runners), tying his career-best finish, which also led Miami to the team title. His time of 24:51 at the Loyola meet is Miami’s top 8K time of the season (so far) and earned him MAC Runner of the Week honors. Silver was also Miami’s top finisher at the season-opening Dayton 5K Invitational, placing fourth overall (15:12) to help Miami finish second, the Iona Meet of Champions, crossing in 20th place in a field that included multiple nationally ranked teams, and at Pre-Nationals where he placed 95th overall (25:06). Silver finished 24th at the MAC Championship.

Eichenberger, an exercise science and pre-med major with a 3.85 GPA, added depth to Miami’s lineup in his first year competing for the RedHawks. His best race of the season came on Oct. 3 at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational when he finished second on the team and 12th overall (out of 408 runners) in a season-best 8K time of 25:36 to help Miami capture its only victory of the season (out of 39 teams). At the MAC Championship, Eichenberger placed third on the squad and 20th overall in 26:39. To start the year, he placed 12th overall at the Dayton 5K Invitational in 15:29, helping Miami to a second-place finish. His second-best 8K time came on Oct. 17 at Pre-Nationals, where he clocked in at 26:04.

To be eligible for the Academic All-MAC team, student-athletes must have completed at least one year at their institution, competed in at least half the team’s races and have a cumulative GPA above 3.20.

--MURedHawks.com--

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