Feb. 25, 2003

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MAC ATTACK: Despite the different opposition that Miami's indoor track and field team has faced this year, the goal remains; to perform solid at the Mid-American Conference Championships this weekend at Kent, Ohio. Miami has been forced to practice inside due to freezing cold weather, stayed in Oxford instead of travel to the All-Ohio Championships due to a snow storm and has battled the daily grind of competing in an indoor season without an indoor track. But all those distractions will be meaningless when the RedHawk runners line up on Friday and Saturday at Kent State University.

"Our highest finish in the indoor championships is fifth place, and we hope our team will prepare to take a shot at challenging themselves to achieve that kind of result," says head coach Richard Ceronie.

GETTING AN "A" IN ECON: Junior Erin Connolly earned a first-place finish in the 55-meter hurdles with a time of 0.07.99 versus Ball State and Western Michigan in Muncie, Ind. on Friday. The hurdler increased her lifetime best score by 0:00.07 and placed second on the all-time indoor Miami record. Connolly increased her lead in the MAC for the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 0:08.52.

CAN I GET SOME PR? Twenty one of Miami's 27 athletes that traveled to Lexington, Ky. on Feb. 7-8, set a seasonal personal record or a lifetime record.

"We had been hopeful the competition would be solid and our athletes would use that competition to elevate their performances," said Ceronie. "There were some significant breakthroughs for our team, and at the end of the day, Miami was leading the MAC rankings in five different events."

The RedHawks set four MAC top times at the Rod McCravy Invitational. Junior Erin Connolly has the top time in the 60 hurdles after her 0:08.59 PR on Saturday. Junior Andrea Kremer took over the MAC lead in the one-mile run with a 4:54.20 PR. The distance medley relay of Kylee Studer, Erica Barnett, Jenny Korrison and Kremer finished in 11:49.03 for the top spot in the MAC. And finally, Lauren Collins is now the leader of two events in the MAC after she had a 20 lb. weight throw of 59'11 1/4" to go along with her top shot put mark from Cincinnati.

All five of the marks are in the top three in Miami indoor history.

SIZZLIN' SCHWARTZ: Sophomore Tabitha Schwartz set a school-record height of 12'0" on the pole vault at the Ohio State Invitational to beat her closest opponent by nearly seven inches on Feb. 1. Schwartz beat her previous best of 11'6" which she set at Cincinnati earlier this year, by nearly six inches while defeating seven other Mid-American Conference schools. The sophomore pole vaulter's score of 12'0" gave her the third highest jump in the MAC this season.

KING KREMER: Junior Andrea Kremer took down the Miami indoor record in the 5000-meter run in grand fashion; by lapping each person in the race. Last year, senior Kristen Fryburg broke the 5000-meter record that had stood for 17 years. The record stood for less than a year, as Kremer finished in 17:03.36 at the Butler-Stan Lyons Invitational on Jan. 25.

ON RECORD: Junior Jenny Korrison continued her strong season on Jan. 18 at Bowling Green by moving to the ninth fastest person in Miami indoor history in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:17.18. Korrison has had quite a bit of success this year after she set a personal best time in the mile-run on January 11th at Cincinnati.

RECORD SETTERS: Junior Lauren Collins set a Miami indoor track and field record for her effort at Cincinnati on Jan. 11. Collins threw the shot put 48'0" and broke her own record of 47'11" that was set during last year's Mid-American Conference Championship meet.

"Lauren had her work cut out for her as she beat one of the premier throwers in the Midwest in Jodi Borges of Dayton," said Ceronie. "She was able to surpass Borges on her last throw and set a new Miami record and walk away with an important win."

MIND GAMES: Although the indoor track and field season is young, Miami is very well experienced at success in the classroom. Of the RedHawk's 43 student-athletes on the track & field and cross country squads, 27 earned a 3.0 grade-point average or higher last semester. The Red and White turned in a 3.28 team GPA to earn first-team academic all-America honors, which are usually awarded to around only 40 teams out of 321.

Senior Kristen Fryburg led the charge of academic prowess by earning individual academic all-America status. To receive this honor, a student must place on the all-region team in cross country while tallying above a 3.25 GPA.

"This is a great honor for her," says Ceronie. "Only about 50-60 cross country athletes out of 4,000 receive this honor, so its pretty special."