2008 Woodie Awards
Freshmen dominate as track teams finish 2nd in Southern Ohio Cup
Pat Spiegel
Issue date: 4/1/08 Section: Sports
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The meet, between several area rivals, was Miami's first home event of the year.
Participating teams included Miami, Central State University, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Dayton, Xavier University, Ohio University, Northern Illinois University and Ohio State University.
As a stepping-stone for rest of the season, the RedHawks hope to continue their success in future events.
"We had some excellent things happen this weekend for our first meet of the year," said men's head coach Warren Mandrell. "Many freshmen were able to step up and score for the men's team, and in many events were the top performers for the RedHawks."
Freshmen Michael Perry and Robbie Fisher finished fourth and fifth in the 1500-meter, and Matt osi placed third in the triple jump and eighth in the 400-meter hurdles, showing the strength of the freshmen class.
"If we have out best days, we can compete with anyone," freshman Josh Rees said. "The confidence of the talented freshman class is incredible as they have their heart set to consistently represent the RedHawks with a positive attitude."
There were several achievements by the RedHawks from the weekend. Senior Michael Veatch qualified for the NCAA tournament in the steeplechase and kept the lead from wire to wire.
Miami dominated the 5000-meter by taking first, second and third. Junior Ryan Dezso, senior Kevin Silver and sophomore Paul Krebs led the way, finishing with times of 14 minutes, 42.01 seconds; 14 minutes, 44.59 seconds; and 14 minutes, 47.65 seconds, respectively, with all three beating their best times. The 4-by-100 meter relay time of 41.86 seconds was the RedHawks' best opener in years and beat every time from last season.
The women's team had high expectations for the event.
"We have had a long history of competing well at home, and have been virtually unbeatable in home meets," said women's head coach Richard Ceronie. "For us to be successful we need to have everyone energized and competing together, and we did not achieve that on Saturday."
Even though the women's team came out Saturday 4-1, it didn't win the meet. However Ceronie believed there were good results from the weekend.
"We will learn from this meet and be better in two weeks at our next home contest," Ceronie said.
The next home meet will be April 11 at the Miami Invitational. It will be the RedHawks' last home event of the season.
Before that, the men's team will head out for the University of Cincinnati Invitational April 5.
The women's next event is the Duke Invitational April 4-5.
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