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Continuing a great season of top finishes for both Miami University's men's and women's cross country teams, the men's team placed second at the Mid-American Conference Championships, while the women placed third Saturday at Central Michigan University.
Sophomore Laura Neufarth won the women's meet with a time of 17:35.2, while junior Pat Sovacool was the top runner for the men with a fourth place finish.
The men's team was just 19 points shy of a conference championship title, falling to Eastern Michigan University, while the women were 19 points behind the University of Akron for second place.
"Our coach told us that this is the lowest score for a second place team that he's ever seen, so it was really competitive between us and Eastern," Sovacool said.
Sovacool, who led the 'Hawks finishing fourth in the meet with a time of 25:05.0, cited this year's MAC Championship as proof that the men's team is continuously improving and evolving in the cross country world.
"Last year we got fourth and our first guy that placed was 26th, and this year our first guy was fourth," Sovacool said. "So that just goes to show that our team's improving every single year and every single week, so we just want to keep it going."
Senior Michael Veatch placed seventh with a time of 25:14.1, and junior Brad Untrauer finished eighth for Miami with a time of 25:16.5.
"Me and Michael (Veatch) ran together most of the race, working off of each other and feeding off of each other," Untrauer said. "We wanted to make sure that we stayed within the top 10 pack for most of the race."
Rounding out the top 16 finishers for the 'Hawks were Kevin Silver and Michael Perry, who placed 15th and 16th respectively.
"Kevin Silver had a tremendous race," Head Coach Warren Mandrell said. "He's been running with a stress fracture, and so he's been doing a lot of cross training and not a lot of running, so for him to place 15th with almost no running was just amazing."
Mandrell also mentioned Miami and Eastern Michigan's domination in the top 16.
"It was a really amazing performance for both of the top two teams because of the top 16 runners there were five from Miami and five from Eastern Michigan and only six from the entire rest of the conference," Mandrell said.
The women's squad also had a solid showing at the MAC Championships, with Neufarth winning the meet in a time of 17:35.2. Neufarth has gone 6-for-6 this season, winning every single race she ran in this season, and was crowned the MAC individual champion at Saturday's competition.
Neufarth's newfound success has been a pleasant surprise for her this year.
"It's weird for me because I'm not really used to running this well," Neufarth said.
Head Coach Rick Ceronie has been continually impressed and pleased by Neufarth's abilities this season.
"It's really a wonderful story, from where she was a year ago at this time," Ceronie said. "It's truly been a storybook season for her."
Senior Jennie Stoll came in 11th place for the RedHawks with a time of 18:07.4.
"It was also my last race, my last MAC Conference, and I kept that in mind," Stoll said. "I knew I wanted to finish it up strong. I think this was my strongest season yet. I was in more control of what I was doing. I wasn't just going out there racing-I had more strategy and knew where I wanted to be."
Neufarth and Stoll were the only top 16 finishers for Miami, and Ceronie cited injury as the reason behind this.
"My greatest concern this season has been that we go into the conference meet healthy," Ceronie said. "I really thought that that would be the deciding factor and unfortunately our really good freshman, Rachel Patterson, has a torn muscle in her hip. I think it went well, but it wasn't good enough."
Still, the season isn't over yet and Ceronie stressed that the main priority for the team at the regional meet draws nearer is to stay focused.
"It's been a long season, we're at the end of the season, and we just need to keep our enthusiasm high and keep focused on the things that we can control," Ceronie said.
The prospect of a second chance is also a motivational factor for performing well at the regional meet, according to Neufarth.
"I'm hoping our team can do better," Neufarth said. "I'm hoping we can come back and beat the teams that beat us this weekend."
Sovacool for the men, agreed with the motivation the regional meet brings out.
"I guess this is a good way to go into regionals, knowing that we can run pretty competitively with (Eastern Michigan)," Sovacool said. "Who knows what can happen. I think that everybody is a little bit more motivated for regionals and the fact that we didn't beat Eastern this weekend is that little extra motivation."
Mandrell is hopeful that the men's squad will fall into favor with the NCAA selection committee at the regional meet.
"Hopefully we'll be a top 10 team at regionals," Mandrell said. "We just have to go and put ourselves up as high on the list as we can, and see what the selection committee for the NCAA meet decides."
Additionally, Ceronie made light of Neufarth's potential to qualify for the national meet at the individual level.
"Laura now has a chance to qualify for the NCAA meet," Ceronie said. "She's put herself in that position."
The NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship will take place Nov. 10 at Indiana University.
