Miami Ohio University Athletics
Miami Cross Country Competes at MAC Championship on Saturday
10/25/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Oct. 25, 2004
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MAC Championship Saturday: The Ottawa Park Golf Course in Toledo, Ohio, welcomes the pounding of 13 Mid-American Conference teams' feet on Saturday as the 25th MAC Women's Cross Country Championship gets underway at noon on Saturday. This is the 21st time Miami has competed in the event since the school adopted women's cross country as a varsity sport in 1984. The RedHawks are in search of their first team title.
We've Seen Them Before: Miami has already raced against some MAC teams this year, with Kent State as the most common opponent. At the Pre-NCAA Invitational on Oct. 16, Miami finished 25th as a team in the White race, with the Golden Flashes just ahead in 24th. At the All-Ohio Championships a week prior, Kent State won the meet and Miami finished fourth. Rounding out the six MAC schools in the Buckeye State, Bowling Green finished fifth, Akron finished sixth, Toledo finished ninth and Ohio took 13th. The only other MAC school to run against Miami this year was Marshall, which the Red and White cruised past at the Miami Invitational last month.
Last Year's MAC Meet: This year's Miami squad looks almost nothing like the team that competed at the 2003 MAC Championship, making the 2004 squad's chances much more difficult to forecast. Miami's top four scorers from last year, Andrea Kremer (Individual champion), Kristin Wrede (12th overall), Kylee Studer (34th), and Sophie Afridi (38th) have all departed, leaving Kelly Ardelean (39th overall) as the only returning scorer from last year's MAC meet. The RedHawks' two other participants in the `03 conference meet, Abbey Reeser (56th) and Jen Taylor (85th) are back, but neither have scored in a meet this year.
MAC Championship History: Though Miami has not won a team title in its 20 MAC Championship tries, the team has finished second three times (1992, 1993, 1999) and has had four individual champions. From 1990-1992, a RedHawk won the individual title, as Celest Smyth, Molly Cullen and Julie Rhoda managed a three-peat. Last season, Andrea Kremer made it four individual titles as she finished in 17:16, 16 seconds ahead of Ball State's Jill Scully, at the Mayfair Country Club in Akron, Ohio.
Ranked RedHawks: The Great Lakes Region Rankings sponsored by Mondo and the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association stay the same this week as many teams took the weekend off in advance of conference championships. Miami stood in 10th place in the Oct. 17 rankings.
Talented Rookies: Though Andrea Kremer, an all-American during her career and the most accomplished athlete in Miami women's cross country history was the top Miami finisher in all of her races during her freshman season in 2000, Miami seems to be following a similar strategy this season. Three times this year, all five of Miami's scorers have been in their first year with the program, and in all five races, a true freshman has been Miami's top finisher. Jennie Stoll and Carol Eckerly have been the first and second Miamians across the tape in all five races, Eckerly first three times and Stoll first twice. Though the RedHawks have the potential for five true freshmen to score, with Sarah Henize, Tricia Frisella and Mia Fiegelist all straight out of high school, academic junior Kristen Proach, in her first year with the program, has scored in four of the five meets. Among the true freshmen, Frisella has always finished third, Henize has scored three times and Fiegelist once.
Players Mentioned
