Oct. 24, 2006

MAC Championship Notes in PDF Format
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With the conference title at stake, the Miami University women's cross country team travels to the Mid-American Conference Championship Saturday, Oct. 28 in Buffalo, N.Y. The RedHawks were tabbed third in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll and placed fifth at last season's MAC meet. The women's 5K race, which is held at Beaver Island State Park, gets underway at noon.

LAST TIME OUT--PRE-NATIONALS (OCT. 14): Competing in the open race at the 2006 Pre-National meet, Miami placed eighth in a 13-team field in their first 6K race of the season. Junior Mia Fiegelist was the top Miamian, finishing 66th overall and 21st in terms of a scoring finish with a time of 22:35. It was the first top team finish of Fiegelist's career. Freshman Kelsey McHugh and junior Jennie Stoll were the next two Miami finishers, each placing within 17 seconds of Fiegelist. McHugh finished 79th overall (24th for a scoring finish) with a time of 22:41, while Stoll placed 97th (33rd scoring) in 22:52.

HISTORY LESSON: Heading into the MAC Championship, Miami is seeking its first MAC title but has historically performed well at the conference meet ... Miami has placed in the top five in four of the past five seasons, including a third-place finish in 2002 ... Since the program's inception, Miami has finished among the top four 13 times, including runner-up finishes in 1993, 1994 and 1999 ... Miami has four individual MAC Champions in program history: Celest Smyth (1990), Molly Cullen (1991), Julie Rhoda (1992) and Andrea Kremer (2003) ... Twenty-nine Miami athletes have earned all-MAC honors in cross country, including current RedHawks Carol Eckerly (first team; 2004) and Jennie Stoll (second team; 2005) ... Miami has had at least one all-conference honoree in each of the past eight seasons.

FLASHBACK TO LAST SEASON: At the 2005 MAC Championship, Jennie Stoll placed ninth overall as Miami finished fifth at Northern Illinois' Anderson Field. The RedHawks placed two runners in the top 20, as they finished four spots behind the champion Akron Zips. Stoll was the only RedHawk to earn all-conference honors after she was the first Miami runner to finish the 5K course, clocking in with a season-best time of 18:06. Behind Stoll, Carol Eckerly was the only other Miami runner to finish in the meet's top 20, as she placed 19th with a time of 18:25.

PICKS TO CLICK: Seven different runners have placed in Miami's scoring five this season, led by the ever-consistent junior Jennie Stoll. Stoll has finished first or second on the team in four of Miami's five races, including two top-five finishes at each of the season's first two meets. Behind her, freshman Kelsey McHugh and junior Mia Fiegelist have been Miami's next best runners, with each posting one top team finish this season. At the conference meet, the fourth and fifth spots will most likely determine how high Miami finishes, as junior Sarah Henize, sophomore Erin McGowan and freshman Amanda Mirochna are three runners most likely to challenge for a scoring finish.

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 had a 42-second split between its first and fifth runners at the Pre-Nationals but no runners that placed in the top 50. There were 266 runners in the field at the Open Race ... Miami has a 62-19 overall record this season after placing eighth at Pre-Nationals ... Miami is 4-4 when running against MAC schools this season, having defeated Akron, Bowling Green, Kent State and Northern Illinois.

MORE HARDWARE THAN HOME DEPOT: Miami 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 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.

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.