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Both men and women capture conference titles under coach Mitchell
By Tom Gaffney
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Thursday, May 22, 2008
A half-celebration was essentially no celebration for the University of Akron in the previous two Mid-American Conference outdoor track and field meets.
Many schools have separate men's and women's teams under separate head coaches. At UA, the two programs are combined under one coach, Dennis Mitchell.
The Zips women's team won MAC championships in 2006 and 2007, but the enthusiasm was tempered because the men placed third in 2006 and second in 2007.
Not last weekend.
The jubilation was shared at Bowling Green because both UA teams placed first.
''The unfortunate thing about having combined programs is unless you win both, you always feel like you lost,'' said Mitchell, who has been the head coach of both teams since 1996. ''That didn't happen this year. It was great for everybody.''
The twin championships set a precedent: the first time in the 13-year history of the MAC outdoor meet that one coach led both winners. Eastern Michigan won both sides in 1997 and 2000, but had separate coaches.
Not surprisingly, Mitchell was named MAC men's coach of the year and MAC women's coach of the year.
The Zips women were favored to win the title and did so in dominating fashion with a meet-record 208.5 points, to 153 for runner-up Western Michigan. The UA men took the opposite approach, winning with 183 points, to 182 for runner-up and favored Eastern Michigan.
The UA women were led by junior Stevi Large, who won the discus and hammer throw, and was third in the shot put. She was named the MAC's female field performer of the year.
Other UA champions were Brittany Hocker (200), Larisa Arcip (1,500), Crestwood's Cassie Schenck (steeplechase), Kim Lorentz (5,000), Carol Eckerly (10,000) and Wooster's Jessica Miller Hafner (pole vault).
Overall, the Zips women got points from 22 athletes and scored in 17 of the 21 events.
''We had so many people step up and score points,'' Mitchell said. ''When you have a score like that, you have to have depth and you have to have points at the top.''
The men's championship was especially satisfying because it reversed a one-point loss to Eastern Michigan in the 2007 meet. This time, the Zips got a crucial third place in the final event — the 1,600 relay — to finish one point ahead of the Eagles.
''The men stuck it out, stayed in there. We had some good surprises,'' Mitchell said. ''They were motivated by last year. That was a very crushing defeat.''
Senior Cadeau Kelley, who was named MAC men's field performer of the year, led the way with firsts in the long jump and triple jump.''
Other UA men's champions were Aaron Dobson (200), Mike Uhle (pole vault) and Tyler Sweet (pole vault).
The Zips now turn their attention to the NCAA Mideast Regional on May 30-31 in Fayetteville, Ark. UA will send 12 women and 11 men to the meet.
The top finishers there move to the NCAA Division I national meet June 11-14 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Flashes third, fourth
Kent State took third in the men's meet and fourth in the women's meet.
The Flashes men's winners were Evan Whiting (shot put), Shamel Smith (high jump), John Harper (discus) and Jaroslaw Zakzweski (hammer).
LeVania Henderson (shot put) was the only women's champion for the Flashes.
Tom Gaffney can be reached at tgaffney@thebeaconjournal.com.
A half-celebration was essentially no celebration for the University of Akron in the previous two Mid-American Conference outdoor track and field meets.
Get the full article here.
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