Sept. 11, 2004

OXFORD, Ohio - Rookie Carol Eckerly (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) led her teammates across the tape for the second-straight week as the RedHawks swept the Miami Invitational over Cumberland College (Ky.) and MAC rival Marshall on Saturday afternoon. Eckerly a group of Miami runners that took the first eight places, the top five of whom are in their first season of collegiate cross country.

Eckerly's 18:18.33 finish led teammate Jennie Stoll (Pewaukee, Wis./Pewaukee) by eleven seconds as the runner up completed the 5K Western Campus course in 18:29.39. Tricia Frisella (St. Louis, Mo./Visitation Academy) finished third in 18:52.70, Kristen Proach (Canton, Ohio/St. Thomas Aquinas) was fourth in 19:26.76, and Sarah Henize (Bucyrus, Ohio/Bucyrus) completed Miami's scoring in fifth with a time of 19:30.15.

Miami had three more runners before runner-up Cumberland placed its first entrant. Kelly Ardelean (Strongsville, Ohio/Strongsville) was sixth in 19:30.15, Mia Fiegelist (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) was seventh in 19:43.35, and Abbey Reeser (Circleville, Ohio/Circleville) eighth in 20:10.91. Also completing the course for Miami were Leslie McCue (Braidwood, Ill./Reed-Custer) in 14th overall with a time of 21:05.15 and Jen Taylor (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) in 17th overall with a time of 22:33.18.

Cumberland placed four runners after the initial Miami eight-pack and scored their fifth runner in 15th place overall for a total of 41 points. Marshall's highest finisher stood 13th overall as the Thundering Herd finished with 64 points.

Miami's win is its second of the young season. The RedHawks won their first race of the fall last weekend at the Dayton Flyer Invitational 5K as Eckerly finished second overall to lead Miami.

The RedHawks take their show on the road once again to the Cedarville Invitational in Xenia, Ohio, next Saturday morning.