Miami Student

Issue date: 3/1/05 Section: OpEd Page

The 2004-05 school year has the possibility of being the best sports year for Miami athletics since I came to campus three years ago. Before you go screaming about Ben leaving and tell all your friends that I'm a raving lunatic, hear me out.Ben did leave and the football team missed him... a lot. In spite of Ben's departure, however, the football team still made the MAC Championship game. They were then selected to participate in the Liberty Bowl, earning the MAC's highest-ever bowl payout and competing against the Big XII North co-champion Iowa State Cyclones. Granted, this isn't quite number 10 in the AP Poll, but it's still been a strong season for Miami football.However, in judging all of Miami athletics, we can't just look at the football team. The reason that this year may be a better year for Miami athletics lies in the fact that almost all of our sports teams have improved over last year (with ice hockey and women's basketball being the disappointing exceptions).The first example of improvement lies with the men's basketball team. Unfortunately, the RedHawks are coming off back-to-back losses as they head into Wednesday's game against Kent State at Millett. Yet, Miami still sits atop the MAC and can win the conference championship outright for the first time since Wally Szczerbiak was here. In addition, Miami still has a chance to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, even if it doesn't win the MAC tournament. If either of these things happened, Miami would return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999, when Szczerbiak was a senior.If men's basketball doesn't do it for you, maybe the baseball team will. Miami has been picked to win the MAC Tournament in baseball and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which hasn't happened since 2000. While predictions hardly make reality, Miami has been to five of the last seven MAC Tournament Finals and you just get the sense they're due to win one. In addition, while All-American Mike Ferris is gone, much of last year's East Division-winning team will be back. Couple this predicted success with the fact that there is no better way to spend a sunny afternoon at McKie Field and it's clear that Miami baseball should provide plenty of entertainment.We still have more sports to go though. Let's take a look at softball. For the first time in program history, the RedHawks have been chosen to win the MAC Championship, which would catapult the 'Hawks into their first NCAA Tournament ever. One of the marquee returning players is senior pitcher Jackie Poggendorf. Poggendorf has twice been selected to the All-MAC Second Team and led the RedHawks with 13 wins last season. She also boasted a team-low ERA of 1.38 and is the career strikeouts leader for Miami softball. In addition to Poggendorf, junior pitcher Courtney Salmon has already been named MAC Pitcher of the Week twice this year. Combine such a strong pitching staff with the return of All-MAC Second Team selection Bianca Paz and a crop of freshmen who are expected to contribute immediately and you get a team that looks poised for success.Before we end our discussion, we can't leave out two perennial powerhouses in the women's swimming and diving team and the synchronized skating team. For the fourth year in a row, women's swimming and diving completed an undefeated MAC regular season and then validated the season by winning the conference title. The synchronized skating squad recently won its seventh national title over the last nine years. Since they were edged out by Western Michigan last year, this also marks an improvement over last year.Lastly, I don't want to wrap up without recognizing the great improvement shown by the field hockey team this past season. The RedHawks upped their win total from one the previous year to seven last year. You have to expect with that much improvement during new coach Jill Reeve's first year, the field hockey program is only headed upward.So let's add it all up. Last year Miami athletics had three regular season MAC Championships (football, women's basketball and women's swimming and diving), one NCAA Tournament birth (ice hockey), one bowl bid and zero national championships.This year, Miami is looking at a potential for four regular season MAC championships (men's basketball, baseball, softball and women's swimming and diving), three NCAA Tournament bids (men's basketball, baseball and softball), one bowl bid and one national championship.I realize that many of these predictions still have a long time before they play themselves out. However, the fact remains that this year has the potential to be the best year in Miami athletics in quite some time. I just hope students and fans are able to show all of Miami's athletes the support they deserve for such a great year - because that's the real reason everyone seems to believe that last year was better than this year.

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