Miami University’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams both recorded second place finishes in the Dayton Flyer 5k Challenge, falling short to The Ohio State University in both races.

However, senior runner Jarrod Eick said he was not disappointed with the men’s performance.

“Ohio State is ranked sixth in our [NCAA] region,” Eick said. “We were hoping to win, but we finished three points behind Ohio State.”

Men’s cross-country Head Coach Warren Mandrell was happy with the RedHawks’ performance as well.

“We beat the University of Dayton, and they returned their entire team this year,” Mandrell said.

Women’s cross-country Head Coach Kelly Phillips was happy with the team’s performance, especially because of the team’s improvements from last year.

“Overall, [the team] did a very nice job,” Phillips said. “We beat Dayton, which was good because they beat us last year. I am pleased with our second place finish, but I think the weather was a factor. We have been practicing in the morning so we weren’t used to the heat, but it only gets colder from here.”

Mandrell praised the men’s leading runner.

“Eick won the race for the second consecutive year,” Mandrell said. “He took charge halfway through the race, then he never looked back.”

Eick was not the only strong performer for the men.

Only one spot behind Eick was redshirt senior runner Steve Kiplagat, who finished with a time of 15:22, only three seconds behind Eick.

The women’s team top performer was sophomore runner Jess Hoover, who finished fifth. Right behind Hoover was classmate Elisa Frazier. Another member of the sophomore class, Alex Chitwood, finished eighth.

Seven RedHawk runners finished in the top 15. Frazier’s top 10 finish was a pleasant surprise for Phillips.

“[Frazier] struggled at Dayton last year, and she did very well this year,” Phillips said.

Phillips was not surprised by the success the ’Hawks had Saturday.

“Everyone has been training well; everything went according to plan,” Phillips said.

The men’s team had to overcome some issues to earn their second-place finish Saturday.

“We had a couple of guys sick,” Mandrell said. “[Redshirt junior runner] Matt Marol had missed practice all week, but he raced.”

Marol finished 21st overall.

The head coaches do not plan to change any of their training because of the teams’ satisfactory performances.

“Not a whole lot will be changed [about practice]; we are working hard,” Mandrell said. “We have a couple guys who are sick, and we’ll be a solid team if we stay healthy.”

Phillips had similar thoughts.

“Nothing will be changed about our training,” Phillips said. “We will continue to get better.”