Men's Track Receives 12 Commitments
July 6, 2005
Coral Gables, Fla. (hurricanesports.com) – Head men’s track and field coach Mike Ward announced today the commitment of 12 student-athletes to attend the University of Miami this fall.
“I am very excited with this year’s recruiting class,” said Ward, who will be entering his ninth season as head coach and 14th season overall with the Hurricanes. “This is probably the deepest, most well rounded group of recruits we’ve had in my time at Miami. We were able to secure a quality group of student-athletes who will add depth in many areas especially the field events and distance races.”
Highlighting this year’s class is high school All-American Brian Cortina (Skillman, N.J.). Cortina, who just completed his senior season at The Hun School, earned All-America honors placing third in the shot put at the 2005 Nike Indoor Track and Field Championships with a personal best toss of 18.96 meters (62-02.50).
The Hurricanes received commitments from four student-athletes from the state of Florida including 2005 Florida 1A State runner-up in the high jump Elan Daviglus (Miami Northwest Christian Academy). Daviglas, competing in his first season in track and field, was a first-team All-Dade selection and posted a personal best jump of 6-09.25.
Andrew Chuplis (Winter Park, Fla.) committed to Miami after a senior campaign which saw him help lead Winter Park to the 2004 state cross country title as well as a third-place finish in the 3200-meters at the 2005 Florida 4A State Championships. Chulpis has recorded personal bests of 4:25 in the 1600-meters and 9:36 in the 3200-meters.
Miami’s final two commitments from the state of Florida are South Plantation’s Brandon and Gary Calabro. Brandon placed sixth at the 2004 Florida Cross Country Championships and has personal bests of 4:25 in the 1600-meters and 9:48 in the 3200-meters, while Gary, the 2003 Broward County Champion at 3200-meters, has recorded personal bests of 4:32 and 9:59 in the 1600-meters and 3200-meters, respectively.
Miami also landed Gettysburg (PA) High School senior Darnell Johnson, one of the top triple jumpers out of Pennsylvania. Johnson won the state triple jump title in 2004 and has a personal best jump of 47-11.50.
Two middle distance runners will join the Hurricanes next season including Patrick O’Donnell (Salem High School) who placed fourth in the 800-meters at the 2005 Massachusetts State High School Championships and was runner-up in the event in 2004. He finished fourth in the decathlon at this season’s state decathlon championship. O’Donnell’s has a career-best of 1:54.92 in the 800-meters.
Also coming to Miami next season is Joe Drexler-Dreis from Shorewood (Wis.) High School. Drexler-Dreis was a state finalist in the 400-meters in 2004 and has posted times of 50.3 in the 400-meters and 1:56 in the 800-meters.
Miami cross country and distance programs will continue to get stronger as four of the top performers from around the nation will be heading to Coral Gables.
Eric Miller from Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, Texas earned first team All-Region honors in cross country this season and was a first team All-State selection in the 3200-meters. His personal best time at 3200-meters is 9:29.
Ryan Woodlee (Silver Spring, Md.) was the 2003 and 2004 Virginia State Independent School Cross Country Champion while competing for Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. He was named to the 2004 All-South team at the FootLocker Cross Country Championships as well as the All-Metropolitan Cross Country team.
Rounding out Miami recruiting class are two distance runners from the state of Ohio. Andrew Carnes from Massillon Jackson High School in Canton led his cross country team to district and regional titles as well as a fifth-place finish at the 2004 Ohio State Cross Country Championships.
Jules Rosen from Sycamore High School qualified for the state cross country championships in 2003 and 2004 and has a personal best time of 9:52 in the 3200-meters.
