April 18, 2008

OXFORD, Ohio - The Miami University men's track and field team travels to the University of Cincinnati this weekend for the All-Ohio Championships.

Joining the RedHawks in the Division-I field are Akron, Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Dayton, Kent State, Ohio, Ohio State, Toledo, Wright State, Xavier, and Youngstown State. Miami will look to improve on their seventh place finish from a year ago.

Embarking on a key stretch of the season, leading up to the MAC Championships in mid-May, several RedHawks have already hit NCAA Regional qualifying marks, including Kevin Dwyer, Michael Veatch and Dan Beach.

Dwyer scored 7066 points in the decathlon at the season-opening Clemson Relays, placing him first in the MAC and qualifying him provisionally for the regional championships. Dwyer also ranks second in the conference with a best toss of 183-1.

Veatch's season-best time of 9:05.26 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase is the fastest time in the MAC by more than 14 seconds and eclipsed the regional qualifying time. He also has a MAC-best time of 14:33.77 in the 5,000 meters.

Beach has set a season and career-best of 194-1 which places him the regional championships and ranks him first in the MAC by more than 19 feet. He is also capable of scoring in the discus where he holds a season-best of 157-3.

Other key RedHawks will look to add some hardware to their shelves this weekend as they continue their progression toward the conference championships.

Jake Kuhner has a season-best of 16-0 ¾ in the pole vault, tying for best in the MAC, while Josh Rees and Dwyer rank second and third in the long jump, both soaring over 23 feet.

Travis Brumm is just under the regional qualifying mark in the high jump. He has cleared 6-8 ¾ which ranks him second in the conference.

Matt Kessler's season-best of 54.56 in the 400-hurdles ranks second in the league, while Jason Coniglio is has steadily improved his 100 and 200-meter dash times, currently sitting fifth and fourth, respectively with times of 10.78 and 22.15.

Pat Sovacool has continued his incredible feats in the 1500 and 800 meters. He has a MAC-best time f 3:56.25 in the 1500 and ranks second in the MAC at 1:53.57 in the 800.

Following the All-Ohio Championships, which take place on Friday and Saturday, the RedHawks will travel as a team to the Butler Invitational next weekend in Indianapolis, while Sovacool and Veatch will compete in the 114th Penn Relays in Philadelphia.