Oct. 2, 2006
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Coming off an eighth-place finish in the gold race at last weekend's Notre Dame Invitational, the Miami University women's cross country team competes in its second of three straight weekend meets when it travels to the All-Ohio Championship Friday, Oct. 6. Miami has finished among the top five at the All-Ohio meet in each of the last four seasons, including a first-place finish in 2003.
STACKING UP WITH THE FIELD: Heading into the All-Ohio Championship, Miami sports a 6-1 mark against schools from the Buckeye State, with Akron as the only Ohio school to defeat Miami. The Zips finished ahead of the RedHawks at last weekend's Notre Dame Invitational (Sept. 29), but Miami has yet to finish behind any other school from Ohio. Through the season's first three meets, Miami has finished ahead of Cincinnati, Dayton, Xavier, Ohio Wesleyan, Wright State and Youngstown State.
LAST TIME OUT - NOTRE DAME INVITATIONAL (SEPT. 29): Junior Jennie Stoll was the top Miami finisher in 23rd place and the RedHawks had two other runners finish in the meet's top 40 as they placed eighth in a 24-team field the Notre Dame Invitational. Running in the gold race, Miami tallied 192 team points, finishing ahead of 16 teams including local rival Cincinnati and Mid-American Conference foe Northern Illinois. Finishing as the top Miamian for the second time this season, Stoll clocked in with a team-best time of 18:44 at the 5K Notre Dame Golf Course. It was the ninth time in the past 10 races that Stoll has been the top team finisher, dating back to the 2005 Miami Invitational.
GOOD MARKS ACROSS THE BOARD: Finishing in the top third of the field at the Notre Dame Invitational (Sept. 29), Miami had numerous positive individual performances, as four runners in the RedHawks' scoring five clocked in with season-best 5K times. Junior Jennie Stoll took three seconds off her season-best time, lowering it from 18:47 to 18:44, while junior Mia Fiegelist and freshman Kelsey McHugh shaved 10 seconds (19:00 to 18:50) and 18 seconds (19:11 to 18:53) off their fastest 2006 times, respectively. Sophomore Erin McGowan also knocked 17 seconds off her season-best 5K clocking, moving it from 19:21 to 19:04.
SAME OLD SONG AND DANCE: Placing as the top Miamian in 23rd place at the Notre Dame Invitational (Sept. 29), junior Jennie Stoll was the top team finisher for the ninth time in the past 10 races. Junior Sarah Henize had broken Stoll's streak of eight consecutive top team finishes with her first-place time at the 21st Miami Invitational (Sept. 9), but Stoll returned to form at Notre Dame, finishing six seconds ahead of the next-closest Miamian. Since coming to Oxford three seasons ago, Stoll has been the top Miami finisher in 12 of the RedHawks' 18 races.
DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH: Having never competed in a cross country race prior to this season, freshman Kelsey McHugh has been a pleasant surprise for the RedHawks, turning in a trio of scoring finishes in her first three college races. In her first collegiate meet, McHugh turned in a 13th-place time of 19:18 at the Flyer 5K Challenge (Sept. 2) and finished fifth in Miami's scoring five. McHugh then followed with a third-place clocking of 19:11 at the Miami Invitational (Sept. 9), and she continued to prove her mettle with a season-best and 38th-place time of 18:53 at the Notre Dame Invitational (Sept. 29). A field hockey player in high school, McHugh had previously competed in the distance events in track, but she had not run in a cross country meet prior to the season-opening Flyer 5K Challenge.
REDHAWK QUICK FACTS: Twelve of the 16 members of Miami's cross country team hail from the Buckeye State, with its other four members coming from Illinois (2), Indiana (1) and Wisconsin (1) ... Miami's overall record this season stands at 24-8 after placing eighth in a 24-team field in the gold race at the Notre Dame Invitational ... Miami defeated local rival Cincinnati and in-state foe Youngstown State at the Notre Dame Invitational (Sept. 29), extending its season mark against Ohio schools to 6-1.
MORE HARDWARE THAN HOME DEPOT: Miami has had one runner individually recognized by the Mid-American Conference this season, as junior Sarah Henize was tabbed as the MAC Runner of the Week (Sept. 12) following her first-place finish at the Miami Invitational. Clocking in with a top time of 18:54, Henize won her first career individual title and posted her fourth career top-five finish. The runner of the week award was the first of Henize's career, and she was the first Miamian to win the award since Jennie Stoll on Sept. 21, 2004.
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS: Having improved on its conference finish in each of the past two seasons, Miami was tabbed third in the Mid-American Conference Preseason Coaches Poll. Miami returns its top three runners--juniors Jennie Stoll, Carol Eckerly and Sarah Henize--and is coming off a fifth-place showing at last season's MAC Championship. The 2005 MAC Runner-up Toledo Rockets were selected as the preseason conference favorite.
STARTING AT THE TOP: Anchored by a trio of experienced juniors, the top of Miami's lineup is expected to propel the RedHawks' success in the 2006 season. Top junior returnee Jennie Stoll, a 2005 all-MAC second team honoree, finished ninth at last season's MAC Championship, while classmates Carol Eckerly, a first-team all-MAC runner as a freshman, and Sarah Henize placed 19th and 26th, respectively. All three runners provide Miami with a talented and veteran presence, and each has the ability to be the RedHawks' No. 1 runner.
THESE KIDS ARE SMART: Continuing its trend of excellence in the classroom, last season's women's cross country squad was tabbed as an all-academic team by the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association for the 12th straight season. Posting a team GPA of 3.38, the highest of any Miami varsity team during the 2005-06 season, Miami was recognized with distinction for having a team GPA of 3.25 or better for the sixth consecutive season. Miami has been recognized every year since the award's inception in 1994.
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