If there is one word that the Miami University men's cross country team hopes will be used to describe their upcoming 2010 season, it would be consistency.


During the 2009 campaign, the team was plagued with inconsistency that led them to highs and lows during the season.

They blossomed in events such as the Dayton Flyer 5K (second place), the Loyola Lakefront Invitational (first place out of 39 teams) and the MAC Championship (fourth place).

However, that success wasn't sustained from event to event when they stumbled at the Pre-Nationals Invitational (25th place) and the Great Lakes Regional (14th place). With no apparent reason to point towards their spells of inconsistency, the RedHawk runners all received it as a motivation to practice and prepare harder for this season.

The team's 2010 schedule consists of at least seven meets, pending qualifications for nationals and the NCAA championships, with the first meet taking place September 4 at the Dayton Flyer 5k.

The meet to watch will be the All-Ohio Championship on October 1. The All-Ohio Championship will showcase the best teams and runners in Ohio and will be a great way for Miami runners to measure themselves against other competition.

"Im looking forward to the All-Ohio Championship the most," senior Chris Dennison said. "It's a tough course that we have prepared for with a lot of challenging workouts this offseason. It's a great way to stack yourself up against other Ohio schools."

The RedHawks lost four of their top seven finishers from the MAC Championship a season ago but have full confidence that their underclassmen will step up big. Those underclassmen include rising sophomore Jarrod Eick and redshirt sophomore David Eichenberger. The captains have not been selected for this season, but look for familiar names like Micheal Perry (Second-Team All-MAC in 2009) and Dennison to set the pace for the team.