Miami dominates in RedHawk Invitational

Andrew Tonne and William Morin, Staff Writers

Redshirt freshman Katie Scannell competes in the 400m hurdles. Scannell won the event with a season-best 1 (SCOTT ALLISON | The Miami Student)

In their second and final home meet of the outdoor season, the Miami University women's track and field team, scoring 11 event victories including seven out of the eight field events, won the meet with 255 points.

Sophomore Samantha Gable highlighted the field events for the 'Hawks this past weekend. Her first place toss in the shot put of 45-5.75 (13.86 meters) was a personal best and placed her sixth all-time at Miami in the event. Gable also took first in the hammer throw with another personal best of 177-2 (44.29 meters), which places her third all-time at Miami.

On April 22 to 23, eleven members of the women's track and field team traveled to the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia to compete in the prestigious Penn Relays. This the largest meet any of the RedHawks had run this season.

"With over 100,000 spectators, it was quite an experience for the athletes," Head Coach Kelly Phillips said.

The big stage seemed to bring out the best of the 'Hawks. The distance medley relay team of Amanda Mirochna, Kelley Miller, Katie Lenahan and Rachael Clay shattered the previous school record of 11:43.18 with a time of 11:31.48 on their way to a fourth place finish. Mirochna, Miller, Lenahan and redshirt freshman Jillian Dickman helped break the 4x1500m relay school record with a time of 18:44.66 while finishing 12 in the event.

"We were solid at Penn Relays," Phillips said. "Any time you go to a meet that large, sometimes your athletes really blow up. They handled it well and got some great experience."

The RedHawks will be back in action next weekend in Columbus, Ohio at the Jesse Owens Classic.

In the men's track team's second and final home meet of the season, Miami had one of their best yet, winning seven events and capturing multiple personal bests for the athletes.

A major highlight of the meet came from freshman Lucas Ferguson, who tossed the 12-pound hammer 194-8 (59.33) meters, qualifying him for the U.S. Junior Nationals Meet in June. Ferguson also placed second in the discus with a throw of 156-11 (47.84) meters, falling close behind John Gausmann with a personal best throw of 164-6 (60.14) meters.

Another personal best came in the form of Matt Rudin in the pole vault, successfully vaulting 15-9 feet, winning him the event. Also, junior Michael Perry won the 1500-meter run with a personal best of 3:58.39.

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Junior Justin Eddie won the 200m dash in 22.01, and junior Jesse Whitman won the 110m hurdles with a time of 15.92. In the 400m dash, freshman Alieu Sillah placed second with a time of 48.75.

Head Coach Warren Mandrell attributed the overall and individual successes of this meet to being at home.

"The throwers are used to the consistency of the field and the runners are familiar with tracks, which in the end will give them lots of momentum for next week's high level meet against numerous Big Ten teams," Mandrell said.

The Jesse Owens Classic will be held April 30 to May 1 at The Ohio State University, where the teams hope to continue improving and gaining momentum for the final stretch.