NFL Draft

Everyone ready for round two?

No surprise, Cam Newton was snatched up in the first round, along with other standout players and a total of four quarterbacks in the first 12 drafts.

Now about halfway through round 2, the Hurricanes have their first drafted player, with offensive guard Orlando Franklin going to the Denver Broncos.

Who will go next? Miami has 12 players left, including kicker Matt Bosher, wide receiver Leonard Hankerson, and inside linebacker Colin McCarthy, who recorded 106 tackles in the 2010 season.

Social Media Recruiting

College recruiting is changing, but that’s no real news. Schools are revolving doors for athletes and coaches, across all sports. Student-athletes graduate, get drafted, even become coaches themselves, and there are always new people coming in.

The real change is in the process. Even just three years ago, athletes still received letters from coaches in the mail, detailing everything from team policies to recruiting itineraries to that list of “Everything Awesome You Need to Know About…(insert school’s name here).” Imagine the process–highly intricate and emotional–waiting for phone calls on July 1st, opening those letters, finding out who wants you at their school and, more importantly, which school you want.

Now imagine that same thing today, only tack on the social media connection. Athletes, fans, even coaches from those schools requesting you as a friend on Facebook, following you on Twitter, sending a stream of support and charm at all hours of the day to convince you to attend their school. That’s a new kind of pressure, and one that the NCAA hasn’t quite figured out.

Sure, there are rules for how often a coach can call, text messages are off limits, but what should be done about social media? Is it fair for fans to create Facebook groups to try to lure recruits? Is it appropriate for coaches to be friends with athletes? Where do we draw the line?

The New York Times produced an article on the subject, and talked to coaches, athletes and fans about their Facebook connections with recruits: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/sports/ncaabasketball/18recruiting.html?ref=sports.

Social media recruiting is somewhat regulated, but nowhere near the extent of other media that have been around longer.

Where do you stand?

Miami Basketball

Miami Heat: Thursday’s win against the Lakers provided a much-needed sigh of relief for the Heat, who secured a playoff spot after a series of questionable games. Dwyane Wade commented that the team played the game it needed to play to keep up its hope of contention for a championship.

Yet questions remain—the Heat can pull off wins over the defending champions, but not the close games against the Knicks, the Spurs and…the Trail Blazers? What will happen in the playoffs? Can we expect the power team that plays the Lakers, or the team that falls short at clutch time?

 

Miami Hurricanes: What a game for Coach Haith and Men’s Basketball! Powerful statement in Greensboro, but the tests continue. Up next: UNC @ 12:00 p.m. North Carolina is on a seven-game win streak with a 24-6 record, to Miami’s 19-13. UNC won the last matchup, another “close, but not quite” game for the ‘Canes, 74-71.

 

Thursday Events

Track & Field left for Indoor ACC Championships yesterday, and competition opens today in Blacksburg, VA at Virginia Tech. The first and only event today is the pentathlon, which begins at noon.
The meet runs through Saturday.

Also, MAJOR matchup for Women’s basketball this evening v. FSU, as the ‘Canes and Coach Meier look to defend home court, the highest ranking since 1992, a 23-game home streak and earn a leg up over the ACC. Miami is currently tied with FSU and Duke for the lead ranking in the ACC.

Amy Deem

Amy Deem has been named Head Women’s Track Coach for the 2012 London Olympics!

The US Olympic Committee made the announcement on February 17th. This honor marks Deem’s achievements during her years at Miami, brining the program to a national level. She has trained her competitors into NCAA Champions over the last 20 years at Miami, and currently coaches Olympian Lauryn Williams.

She and diving coach Randy Ableman are the only current Miami coaches to find experience on the Olympic level.

Women’s Swimming & Diving ACC Championships

I am a proud member of UM’s Women’s Swimming & Diving team. We achieved our highest ever ranking this weekend at the ACC Championships at Georgia Tech. We placed 6th, only nine points behind Virginia Tech.

We walked away from the four-day meet with one win, four second-place finishes (three from diver Carrie Dragland alone) and one third-place finish. Sophomore Sofia Johansson claimed an individual title in the 100 yard breaststroke, and senior Annika Saarnak placed second in the 100 yard butterfly. The 200-medley relay of Johansson, Saarnak and juniors Kelsi Hall and Whitney Stephenson placed third. All these performances achieved NCAA B-qualifying times.

The swimmers raked in a total of 11 NCAA B-qualifying times, in three relays and eight individual swims:

• Kelsi Hall: 50 Freestyle
• Annika Saarnak: 50 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly
• Christine Anderson: 100 Breaststroke
• Sofia Johansson: 100 Breaststroke, 200 Breaststroke
• Dana Hatic: 100 Breaststroke, 200 Breaststroke
• Annika Saarnak, Kelsi Hall, Alexis Fee, Lauren Jacoby: 400 Freestyle Relay
• Annika Saarnak, Kelsi Hall, Whitney Stephenson, Lauren Jacoby: 200 Freestyle Relay
• Whitney Stephenson, Sofia Johansson, Annika Saarnak, Kelsi Hall: 200 Medley Relay

Junior diver Carrie Dragland swept second place in the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions along with the platform competition.

In 1-meter, Carrie placed 2nd, freshman Lindsay Lester was 4th, senior Brittany Viola placed 5th, and freshman Thea Vock placed 8th.
In 3-meter, Carrie placed 2nd, and Lindsay placed 5th.
In the platform competition, which includes dives from 5-, 7- and 10-meter heights, Carrie placed 2nd and Brittany placed 4th.

The Men’s diving teams also competed this weekend, and our lone male diver, freshman Sam Dorman, competed in the 3-meter, placing 6th.

Track & Field

UM Men’s Track and Field hits the road for the third week in a row, heading to Arkansas for the Tyson Invitational.

The team travels eight this weekend, including Devon Hill and Travis Benjamin, both school record-holders. Hill was named ACC Performer of the Week this week.

ACC Championships for the Indoor portion of the season will be February 24-26 in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Miami Track & Field

Miami’s Track and Field team travels this weekend to the Virginia Tech Elite Meet. The team will compete against ACC rivals Clemson, Georgia Tech, Maryland, NC State, Virginia and Wake Forest, along with Florida, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisville.

The ‘Canes are coming off a weekend at Kentucky, where two members of the team set new school records, Travis Benjamin in the 60m dash and Devon Hill in the 60m hurdles.

Jason Johnson, a junior, competed Friday in the long jump, reaching a mark of 6.60m.

Other Results:
Men’s Mile–Gregory Kaczka (12th), Luke Fontaine (17th), Matthew Wilson (22nd), Charles Michel (25)
60m Hurdles (prelim)–Devon Hill (1st, 7.76), Jeffery Lewis (11th, 8.29)
60m Dash (prelim)–Brandon McGee (14th, 6.97), Lamar Miller (15th, 6.97), Bassim El-Sabawi (19th, 7.08), Nathan Gholston (21st, 7.21), Sean Petty (26th, 7.46)
800m Run–Gregory Kaczka (20th, 1:59.05), Luke Fontaine (23rd, 1:59.87), Matthew Wilson (24th, 2:01.63)
60m Hurdles (FINAL)–Devon Hill (1st, 7.71)

Tomorrow, Miami will compete in the triple jump, distance medley relay, 400m dasn, 5000m run and 1600m relay.

Miami Marathon

From 5:00 am until well after sunrise, runners from all 50 states and over 100 countries trekked around Miami in the 9th Miami Marathon and Half Marathon. People with all kinds of paraphernalia supporting family and friends stalked the start line, as the announcer prepped the athletes for the race. Costumes, flags and signs waved through the crowds, and the racers organized themselves for the start.

The race began at 6:10 with the disabled athletes, on hand-cranked bikes and in wheelchairs, and the elites led the field 10 minutes later. It took close to 20 minutes for the crowd of all 21,116 athletes to cross the start line as the sun began to rise over Miami Beach.

Just over an hour later, the first hand-cycle athlete finished the half marathon, followed closely by the first male runner. From that point, half marathoners came streaming in until about the 2:12:00 mark, when the elite runners of the full marathon began to finish. While both the men’s and women’s half marathon races were close, with only seconds separating first and second place, the male winner of the marathon crossed the line over five minutes before second place.

Alena Vinitskaya of Belarus won the marathon for the women, and Stacie Alboucrek of Ft. Lauderdale finished second. Tesfaye Alemayehu won for the men and Benazzouz Slimani finished second.

In the half, Aziza Abate finished first ahead of Fiona Docherty for the women, and Kumsa Adugna finished first ahead of Boaz Cheboiywo.