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Sept. 28, 2005
Following a 13-day break between races, the Miami University women's cross country team is well rested heading into Friday's Notre Dame Invitational. The RedHawks are coming off a first-place finish at the Cedarville Invitational on Sept. 17 in which they outlasted Big 10 foe Ohio State for the team title. This weekend, Miami faces a tough, 25-team field at the Notre Dame Golf Course in South Bend, Ind., as the SEC, Pac-10, Big Ten, ACC, and Mountain West are among the conferences represented.
THE BEST OF WHAT'S AROUND: The 25-team field at the Notre Dame Invitational boasts some of the top cross country teams in the nation as nearly half of the field--12 of the 25 teams--are ranked or received votes in the FinishLynx National Poll released on Sept. 21. The nationally-ranked schools in the field are: Notre Dame (No. 3), Michigan (No. 4), Wake Forest (No.12), Illinois (No.16), Michigan State (No. 18), Missouri (No. 19), Indiana (No. 22), Colorado State (No. 26), Florida State (No. 28), Butler (RV-13), Rice (RV-12) and Utah State (RV-10).
STOLL WINS SECOND CEDARVILLE TITLE: Sophomore Jennie Stoll won her second Cedarville/Friendship Invitational in as many years at John Bryan State Park on Sept. 17 as she outdueled Cedarville's Samantha Maat for the individual title. Stoll holds the top time--17:53.96--at the three-year old course for her record-setting performance as a freshman in 2004.
HENIZE PR: Another milestone was achieved at John Bryan State Park on Sept. 17 as sophomore Sarah Henize ran her top collegiate time of 18:26 in the 5K race. En route to her fifth-place finish, Henize ran with the race leaders for the first two miles and was the second RedHawk across the finish line. Her time was an improvement of 29 seconds from her previous personal best of 18:55, set last season at the Cedarville Invitational.
CEDARVILLE INVITE RECAP: It was a bit of déjà vu at the Cedarville Invitational as, for the second-consecutive year, sophomore Jennie Stoll finished as the individual champion and the Miami RedHawks took home the team title at the 13-team race. As was the case at John Bryan State Park in 2004, Stoll and Cedarville's Samantha Maat finished in the top two spots while Miami was the team champion with four runners placing in the meet's top ten. Stoll finished the race in 18:07, and behind her, sophomores Sarah Henize and Carol Eckerly placed fifth (18:26) and sixth (18:39), respectively. Senior Kristen Proach was the other RedHawk to finish in the top 10 as she came in ninth (18:52). Miami (45 points) finished six points ahead of second-place finisher Ohio State (51 points).
FLASHBACK: Last season, the RedHawks did not race at the Notre Dame Invitational, and Friday's race will mark their first appearence in the race since the 2001 season. At the meet in 2001, Miami came in fifth out of 17 teams as then sophomore Andrea Kremer finished as the runner-up at the meet in a time of 17:26, lowering her previous best 5,000-meter time by 11 seconds. She trailed the race's winner, Fighting Irish freshman Lauren King, by just six seconds.
ARE THEY CLAIRVOYANT?: After finishing sixth in the conference last season, the RedHawks were the No. 5 team in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll. Kent State, who finished fifth at the 2005 Miami Invitational, was tabbed as the preseason favorite. Miami has the ability to finish higher than fifth if their trio of talented sophomores, Carol Eckerly, Jennie Stoll and Sarah Henize can continue to improve in their second season and if Miami can get consistently higher finishes from its group of seniors. Ceronie expects Kristen Proach, a junior walk-on last season who has posted two straight top-15 finishes, to continue to run well and provide depth for the RedHawks.
RELOADING, NOT REBUILDING: Head coach Richard Ceronie returns his top nine runners from last season, and he did not lose any letterwinners to graduation. The RedHawks have a mixture of youth and veteran experience as five freshman and four seniors comprise Ceronie's top nine. Besides Stoll and Eckerly, Miami's sophomore class includes Tricia Frisella, Mia Fiegelist and Sarah Henize. The four member senior class includes Kelly Ardelean, Kristen Proach, Leslie McCue and Abbey Reeser.
2004 RECAP: In 2004, Miami finished sixth in the Mid-American Conference as Carol Eckerly (seventh) and Jennie Stoll (19th) paced the RedHawks. Miami began its season by winning its first three meets--the Dayton Flyer Invitational, the Miami Invitational and the Cedarville Invitational--and the young RedHawks' squad that featured six freshman placed 12th at the Great Lakes Regional. Stoll was the top finisher (12th) at the regional meet while Eckerly was the only Miami runner to earn MAC honors (second-team) by virtue of her seventh-place finish at the conference meet.
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