Nov. 20, 2006

2006 Men's Cross Country Season Recap
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With its 14th-place finish at the regional meet, the Miami University men's cross country wrapped up its 2006 season. Highlights of the season included winning the Flyer 5K Challenge and Miami Invitational, having three athletes earn Mid-American Conference Runner of the Week honors and placing sophomore Pat Sovacool on the academic all-MAC team.

AT THE REGIONAL MEET - GREAT LAKES REGIONAL (NOV. 11): Led by junior Michael Veatch's 57th-place finish, Miami finished 14th in a 31-team field at the Great Lakes Regional Cross Country Championship. At the 10K Mel Brodt Cross Country Course (Bowling Green, Ohio), Miami finished in front of four conference foes -- Akron, Ohio, Bowling Green and Toledo -- and finished in the top half of a region featuring five nationally ranked teams. Veatch was the top Miami finisher for the fourth time this season, clocking in at 32:35, and he finished a little more than a minute and a half behind race winner Corey Nowitzke of Eastern Michigan (30:57). Miami placed one additional runner in the meet's top 80 finishers, as sophomore Pat Sovacool finished 78th (33:04).

AT THE CONFERENCE MEET - MAC CHAMPIONSHIP (OCT. 28): Sophomore Pat Sovacool finished 26th and was one of three RedHawks in the top 30 as Miami finished fourth at the 2006 Mid-American Conference Cross Country Championship. On a rainy and muddy 8K course at Beaver Island State Park (Buffalo, N.Y.), Sovacool paced Miami with a 26th-place time of 28:52. Battling through temperatures in the low 40's and steady winds of 20-30 mph, Sovacool finished two minutes behind race winner Corey Nowitzke of Eastern Michigan (26:52). Freshman Paul Krebs and redshirt freshman Kevin Silver joined Sovacool in the meet's top 30 finishers, as they placed 27th (28:52) and 30th (29:03), respectively.

RANKED REDHAWKS: Regionally ranked since the USTFCCCA preseason polls came out, Miami ended its season ranked 14th in the Great Lakes Region. After beginning the year ranked seventh in the preseason poll, Miami moved down to No. 11 for the weeks of Sept. 25 and Oct. 2, stood at No. 14 on Oct. 10 and moved up one spot to No. 13 on Oct. 17. Miami then ranked 15th in the final poll of October (Oct. 30) before moving up to 14th with its finish at the regional meet (Nov. 14). As traditionally one of the toughest regions in the nation, the Great Lakes region includes four teams ranked in the top 30 nationally: top-ranked Wisconsin, 14th-ranked Notre Dame, 19th-ranked Butler and 26th-ranked Michigan State.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO: A former conference runner of the week and the RedHawks top finisher at the MAC Championship, Miami sophomore Pat Sovacool was one of nine athletes named to the all-MAC academic team. A zoology major with a 3.41 grade-point average, Sovacool was the top Miamian at the conference meet (Oct. 28), placing 26th in 28:52 and helping Miami to a fourth-place finish. Sovacool's top team finish was his second of the year, and during the 2006 season, Sovacool finished in Miami's scoring five at all seven meets.

WE'RE GOING STREAKING: With its fourth-place finish at the 2006 conference meet, Miami extended its streak of consecutive top-four MAC finishes to 11. Miami has not finished outside of the MAC's top four since 1995 when it finished sixth, and during head coach Warren Mandrell's tenure, the RedHawks have been the conference champion or runner-up in eight of his 13 seasons. Since 1980, Miami has won six MAC titles and finished among the conference's top three in 18-of-26 seasons.

WHO'S NUMBER ONE: During Miami's seven races on the 2006 schedule, three different runners finished as the top Miamians, including junior Michael Veatch at the Great Lakes Regional. Veatch paced the RedHawks four times this season, placing first at the Miami Invitational, eighth at the All-Ohio, 113th at the Pre-Nationals and 57th at the Great Lakes Regional. Sophomore Pat Sovacool also posted a pair of top team finishes at the MAC Championship (Oct. 28) and the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational (Sept. 23), while sophomore Brad Untrauer was the top Miamian at the season-opening Flyer 5K Challenge (Sept. 2). All three runners also earned MAC Runner of the Week honors during the season.

MORE HARDWARE THAN HOME DEPOT: A Miamian earned the MAC Runner of the Week award three times this season, including sophomore Pat Sovacool on Sept. 26. Sovacool earned the award after pacing Miami with a sixth-place finish at the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational, joining teammates Brad Untrauer and Michael Veatch as MAC Runners of the Week. Untrauer won the weekly award (Sept. 5) after finishing second at the season-opening Flyer 5K Challenge, while Veatch earned the honor (Sept. 12) after winning the Miami Invitational. Miami won three of the seven MAC Runner of the Week awards handed out during the 2006 season.