Miami University
Iona Meet of Champions
RedHawks Place Fifth at Iona Meet of Champions
9/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Sept. 19, 2009
BRONX, N.Y. - The Miami men's cross country team ran to a fifth-place finish at the 23-team John "Paddy" Doyle Meet of Champions, hosted by Iona College in Van Cortlandt Park Saturday morning. The 8K race saw 203 runners compete in a talented field, as two nationally ranked teams in Wisconsin and host Iona competed, as well as 10 regionally ranked teams, including Miami, who is No. 10 in the Great Lakes region. Defending NAIA champion Malone University, who finished third, also ran in the meet.
Senior Kevin Silver (Beachwood, Ohio) was the RedHawks' top finisher for the second straight race this season, as he crossed the finish line in 18th in a time of 26:04.66, which was 44 seconds behind race winner Harbert Okuti, who ran unattached. Junior Michael Perry (Cincinnati, Ohio) was Miami's second finisher in 25th place in 26:12.46.
"In general, the guys ran a pretty solid race. Our first six runners came across the line within 26 seconds, so it was a nice spread there," head coach Warren Mandrell said. "We need to keep working on moving that pack forward a little more though."
Redshirt sophomore Brian Gallagher (Westlake, Ohio) finished in 29th (26:18.13) as Miami's third finisher, while redshirt sophomore Chris Dennison (Aurora, Ohio) and junior Robbie Fisher (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) rounded out the 'Hawks' scoring five in 38th and 40th place, respectively. Redshirt freshman David Eichenberger (Plainfield, Ind.) was less than a second behind Fisher in 41st, while freshman Jarrod Eick (Hartville, Ohio) was the seventh RedHawk to finish, crossing in 51st.
Fellow Mid-American Conference member Kent State won the meet with 59 points, while fourth-ranked Wisconsin was second with 74 points. Miami finished with 150 points and placed ahead of host and No. 7 Iona, who came in sixth with 177 points. The only other MAC school at the 23-team race was Bowling Green, who came in 18th. The University of Cincinnati's Eric Finan was the top finisher among attached runners, taking second overall less than a second behind Okuti.
"The course was long. It was not an 8K, it was an 8K-plus," Mandrell said. "The times were probably 45 seconds to a minute slower than usual and the winning time was the slowest (in race history) by a lot. The course has changed where it historically has been and after about 300 yards it narrowed to about 15 feet, so if you didn't get out ahead, it was a pretty narrow course the rest of the way and we got trapped a little bit. Once things spread out we started moving forward, but we kind of ran out of room."
The RedHawks take two weeks off before competing at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, Ill. Saturday, Oct. 3.
--MURedHawks.com--
Players Mentioned
