On March 18 and 19 four Miami University decathletes headed to the Univeristy of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte to compete in 10 events in two days. After some strong finishes and a personal record, the team headed back to Oxford with high hopes for the rest of the season.

At the 49er Classic, Head Coach Ceith Creekmur's hopes for his decathletes were realized.

"Everyone stepped up in at least one event for us," Creekmur said, indicating that the team this year will have a lot of depth and balance, hoping to carry them far — even to the NCAA National Meet and the U.S. Junior Meet.

Everyone who competed had great performances, namely freshman Reggie Mitchell, who won long jump and finished third in the 110-meter hurdles, helping propel him to his fourth place finish overall in the competition with 6,064 points. Sophomore Matt Rudin also performed very well before withdrawing midway through Friday.

"Even though he is new to the decathlon, he did great with his javelin and pole vaulting," Creekmur said about Rudin.

Not to be outdone, junior Michael McCarty ran the 100-meter dash and got a personal record by two-tenths of a second, further emphasizing the future of these athletes with the team for the rest of the season. After starting strong, McCarty withdrew from his events midway through Friday's action.

"With the team being half freshman, it's very different, but we are all learning together, which helps," Mitchell said.

Though McCarty and redshirt freshman Sam Wildeman withdrew from their events, there were no serious injuries and their withdrawals were precautionary, in an effort to have them fresh for the start of the regular season. The coaches had seen enough from the successes in their completed events to be able to sit them.

"With the start we had in Charlotte, it shows we are all working hard and not slacking off," Mitchell said. "We are starting the season out well and are going to end it better."

With strong performances by all the decathletes, there is a lot of hope for the 2010 men's track season.

"Reggie's jumping shows he's willing to step up," Creekmur said, which will set the tone for the rest of the young team in the season ahead.

The track season kicks of March 27 at Vanderbilt University.