In Hurricane Headliners, Christy Cabrera Chirinos spotlights some of Miami’s top performing student-athletes as they look to continue excelling in and out of competition.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – A year ago, Edgar Campre was dealing with a freak knee injury that put a damper on his first season as a Miami Hurricane.

Unable to compete during the indoor season, he set his focus on the outdoor season and even though he still wasn’t feeling his best, he managed to secure a second-place finish in the decathlon at the ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in May after placing first in both the discus and the 110-meter hurdles.

Now healthy, Campre is an ACC champion.

At last week’s ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships, Campre earned personal bests in five of the seven events of the heptathlon and totaled a Miami-record 5,903 points to take the gold medal.

His total score currently ranks 11th in the nation and the multi-sport athlete is now determined to build on his success when he competes at next week’s Division I NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Boston – interestingly enough, at the same facility where he put together his record-breaking performance at the conference championship meet.

Needless to say, Campre is beyond excited to see what the competition holds for him.

“It’s an opportunity that I know is going to help me grow as an athlete and get me even more experience to compete with the best of the best,” Campre said. “Right now, I’m in the top 11 nationally and my goal is to go there and approach it as we are all the same. We are all at the same level. It doesn’t matter who’s better, who’s not better, who’s in second place or first place. In my mind, I’m going to get there on the track and think we are all in the same place. We are all at the same level and we’ll see who is the guy that runs faster, jumps higher and throws farthest.”

A native of Lisbon, Portugal, Campre came to Miami to both challenge himself as an athlete and earn a degree.

The sophomore is good friends with former Hurricanes thrower Decio Andrade, who also hails from Portugal and recently completed his own record-breaking career at Miami. Seeing Andrade’s success in orange and green proved inspiring and soon enough, Campre found himself in Coral Gables, too.

“Here in Miami, I have the chance to study and compete and that’s something I really wanted,” Campre said. “At the same time, training and competing in Portugal is very difficult. You cannot always be a great athlete and at the same time, be a great student. Schools don’t collaborate with athletes the way they do here.”

At Miami, Campre is able to pursue a finance degree while growing his skills.

It’s been, he says, an incredible experience and one he hopes will prepare him to make a push for this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

“To be honest, it’s been a dream for me to be here, in college, in the United States,” Campre said. “I’m competing with the best athletes. As you know, most of the best athletes come from college. In my mind, it was like, ‘I’m going to Miami. I’m going to compete with the best of the best’ and that’s what is going to happen next week at Nationals.”

And the Hurricanes, of course, are plenty happy to have Campre on their side.

“He has some great coaches back home and they did a very good job of getting him to where he is now,” said Hurricanes assistant track and field coach Rob Jarvis, who works with Miami’s jumps and combined-events athletes. “The kid’s a grinder. … And seeing him start to put together what he did was great. And it’s only a good preamble for outdoors because, obviously, the decathlon is his bread and butter. He’s such an untapped resource. I wouldn’t say we’ve barely scratched the surface with him, because he’s clearly experienced in the combined events, but there’s a lot more left in the tank, not only for this year, but for the next few years moving forward.”

Competing With the Best

Campre won’t be the only Hurricane competing at next week’s indoor national championship meet.

Senior jumper Russell Robinson earned a silver medal at the ACC championships with his mark of 16.25m in the men’s triple jump and earlier this season, Robinson posted a mark of 16.59m at the Corky Classic, which broke his own program record. Those marks were good enough to earn him a spot in the field in Boston.

Also headed to nationals is high jumper Kennedy Sauder, a transfer from Liberty University who posted a 2.21m at the ACC Indoor Championships. That was good enough for a first-place finish and broke the Miami indoor record.

Scapens, Farouk Shine at ACCs

Miami diver Brodie Scapens won the ACC championship in the 1-meter springboard last week after finishing with a score of 395.0 to edge Pittsburgh’s Dylan Reed (387.60) and Georgia Tech’s Max Fowler (376.55).

Scapens’ first gold medal marked the second straight year the Hurricanes won the event. Last year, Max Flory swept all three diving events at the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships.

Meanwhile, teammate Mohamed Farouk won the bronze in the 3-meter springboard and the silver in the platform event.

Byrne Honored Again

Miami golfer Sara Byrne was named the ACC Golfer of the Month for February after posting a pair of top-five finishes last month.

Byrne, a senior, shot par-or-better in all five rounds she played in the month of February, including two sub-70 rounds. She finished fourth at the UCF Challenge with a seven-under-par 209 and had a second-place finish at the Sun Coast Invitational with a four-under-par 140.

She also led Miami to a third-place finish at the UCF Challenge.

A native of Douglas, Cork, Ireland, Byrne is the first Hurricane to earn accolades as ACC Golfer of the Month twice. She was also recognized by the conference for her performances during the month of October.

What to Watch This Weekend

Plenty of Hurricanes will be in action this weekend, starting with Miami’s baseball team which is set to host a three-game series against rival Florida beginning Friday at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the women’s basketball team will honor graduate students Jaida Patrick and Sophia Zulich during Senior Day festivities when the Hurricanes host Georgia Tech in their regular-season finale at the Watsco Center.

Miami’s men’s tennis team will continue ACC play at Notre Dame on Friday and the swim and dive team will compete at the Bulldog Invitational in Georgia on Saturday.