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Sept. 7, 2004
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Coming off a win at the Dayton Flyer Invitational 5K in which the top four scorers for Miami were freshmen, the RedHawks take the show to their home turf this weekend.
Not Bad for a Rookie: Freshman Carol Eckerly finished second in her first collegiate race, eight seconds behind Cincinnati's Ruth Limo, leading the RedHawks to a Dayton Invitaitonal win on Saturday. In fact, the first four Miami runners had never put on a RedHawk cross country uniform before. Jennie Stoll finished third overall, while Tricia Frisella was fifth and Kristin Proach seventh.
Almost a Rookie Sweep: Saturday's race was one second from becoming a rookie sweep among the RedHawk scorers. Freshman Mia Fiegelist finished a second behind teammate Kelly Ardelean, who was in 10th place. Along with Jen Taylor, Ardelean is a dean of a Miami cross country squad that features no seniors and seven freshman on the 11-woman roster.
First Time in Four Years...: That a freshman has led Miami across the line. In the 2000 season, Andrea Kremer made a habit of being the first RedHawk across the tape. Saturday, Carol Eckerly ended that string of experienced runners leading the way.
Best in the Miami Valley: All five Division I cross country programs from Dayton to Cincinnati came to Saturday's meet, and Miami proved its dominance over all its local rivals. The RedHawks finished ahead of Cincinnati, Dayton, Xavier and Wright State in its win.
Coming Home: Cross country comes to Oxford this Saturday with the Miami Invitational. The men's race starts at 10:15 a.m. with the start-finish line at Bachelor Hall, with Marshall and Cumberland (Ky.) slated to participate in the 5K race. The course runs through Miami's Western Campus, through flat lands followed by more rolling terrain and wooded areas toward the halfway point. On the back half, the race passes more rolling terrain before flattening out near the start/finish line at Bachelor.
They've Done This Before ... Sort Of: Though Miami ran just four runners, one short of the needed five to score, in last year's Dayton Invitational, the RedHawks did very well. All four runners finished in the top 16, though only one of those runners, Kelly Ardelean, finished in this year's Miami scoring group. Three of the four runners overall are back, including Ardelean, Jen Taylor and Abbey Reeser. The race winner last year, Kylee Studer, graduated last spring.
Last Year's Miami Invitational: Despite having two of the top five runners at last year's Miami Invitational, one of the RedHawks' guests stole the show. Michigan won the 2003 meet with 33 points to runner-up Miami's 67. The Wolverines had four of the top 10 runners, including race winner Jesse Allen-Young. Miami's top three finishers from last year, Andrea Kremer (2nd overall), Kristin Wrede (5th) and Kylee Studer (16th) do not return, though the two final scorers, Kelly Ardelean (22nd) and Abbey Reeser (34th), are back.
Big Running Shoes to Fill: Andrea Kremer, a three-time all-American, finished her Miami career in 2003-04, leaving a void to fill for this season. Kremer was the top Miami finisher in every race in which she competed last year. She finished sixth in a field of several hundred runners at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship last year, qualifying her individually for the NCAA Championships, where she finished 152nd. For her outstanding athletic and academic talents, Kremer was named Miami's Female Athlete of the Year three times in her four years.
Distances through this year's races: The 5K course used for the Dayton Invitational will be the same length as all the invitational courses Miami will use this year as well as the MAC meet. The NCAA Pre-Invitational, NCAA Regional and NCAA Championship will use a 6K course.
Who Knew?: Miami was chosen sixth in the MAC Preseason Poll released August 16. Toledo was chosen first, with Akron, Ball State, Toledo and Western Michigan and Kent State finishing ahead of Miami. The MAC announces only the top six finishers in the poll. Selectors undoubtedly wondered about the team's makeup this year after finishing fifth last season with Kremer in the lineup and taking so many untested freshmen into 2004.
Winning on the Road: Miami was one of two MAC schools to win a meet on the road last weekend. Ball State took the Butler meet over the host and IPFW. Four schools hosted their ownmeets, while Akron and Kent's meet at Ashland College was rained out, Bowling Green won a home dual with Toledo and Marshall finished fourth in Kentucky.
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