The Miami University men's and women's cross country programs competed at the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championships Saturday at Ball State University. The women's team finished third and the men's team finished eighth out of 12 teams.
Junior Jarrod Eick led the RedHawks with a first team All-MAC performance. He finished fifth with a personal-best time of 24:38. No other 'Hawk finished in the top 20 in the race, and Head Coach Warren Mandrell believed that inexperience played a huge role.
"We had four guys running in their first MAC meet," Mandrell said. "Physically, we were ready to run, but we just got nervous. We had a real difficulty with the lack of experience."
Mandrell also believes that the teams' health affected the way the team ran all season. Junior David Eichenberger, who placed fourth in the MAC meet last year, hasn't been able to run for a month and is one of the few RedHawks who have ran in the MAC championships. Eichenberger tried to run this week, but placed 74th while running with the injury.
Sophomore David Wing, who has also been injured this season, ran a personal best 25:05 and finished 21st as the second RedHawk to score. After Wing, redshirt sophomore Matt Marol finished 50th in 25:43. Junior Brett Wagner and sophomore Daniel Garleb, running in their first MAC meet, finished 53rd and 55th respectively to round out the scoring for the Red and White.
Mandrell believes the experience gained this week will help the RedHawks compete better at the Regional meet Nov. 12 in Toledo, Ohio.
The women's team faired a little better, but the team remains disappointed with their performance after coming in hoping to win the race.
"They ran as individuals and not as a team," Head Coach Kelly Phillips. "They have to put themselves into the race and risk failure."
Two RedHawks were able to earn second team All-MAC honors, however. Senior Maggie Bingham, who has led the 'Hawks three times this season, finished eighth with a time of 21:20. Bingham has made second team All-MAC three consecutive seasons.
Freshman Jessica Hoover also earned second team All-MAC honors by finishing 12th with a time of 21:34. Hoover believes that the team learned a lot from this experience.
"I would say we will learn to be more confident and fearless going on," Hoover said. "We need to know we belong at the top."
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Freshman Alex Chitwood finished 19th in a season-best 21:50 while redshirt junior Jillian Dickman was a half a second behind in 20th as Miami's fourth finisher. Senior Kelley Miller, a second team All-MAC performer last year, rounded out Miami's scoring five by finished 24th with a time of 21:58.
The team will look to improve on their performance at the regional meet as well. Phillips is confident that they can do so.
"Right now we are seeded eighth out of all of the D1 schools in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana," Phillips said. "If we can go there and better our seeding, that would be great."
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