Miami University Track and Field Camps, Oxford, Ohio

Miami University Cross Country Camps

Coaching Staff

Chad Reynolds
Men's Assistant Coach

Chad Reynolds enters his 12th season at the college level and his seventh since returning to Oxford as an assistant coach. Reynolds previously served a student assistant at Miami from 1997-99 and was a graduate assistant at Ohio University from 2000-01. He works primarily with the Red and White's hurdlers and sprinters.

With Miami serving as the host school for the 2007 Mid-American Conference Championships, Reynolds' top scoring athlete was junior Ben Robinson, who finished seventh in the 800 meters. In the hurdles, Reynolds had a pair of athletes, Eric Horvath and Brad Stoner, qualify for the finals of the 400-meter hurdles and narrowly miss scoring finishes. Reynolds also guided the 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams to sixth- and fourth-place finishes, respectively.

Helping Miami to a fifth-place finish at the 2006 MAC Championships, four of Reynolds' athletes scored at the conference meet, two each in the sprints and hurdles. In the sprints, Heinz Von Eckartsberg was Reynolds' top athlete, placing fourth in the 400 meters, while Michael Watts scored with a sixth-place finish in the 200 meters. Eric Bowman and Bobby Houston also placed among the top eight in their respective hurdle events, with Bowman placing seventh in the 110-meter hurdles and Houston finishing eighth in the 400-meter hurdles.

During the 2004-05 season, Chris Corgiat (400 meters) and Houston (400-meter hurdles) both scored at the conference meet, with Houston narrowly missing all-conference honors as he posted a third-place finish. Houston's 400-meter hurdle time (52.40), which ranks sixth all-time at Miami, also qualified him for the NCAA Mideast Regional. He was one of five RedHawks to earn an invitation to the regional meet. In addition to his individual point scorers, Reynolds' 4x100 relay and 4x400 relay teams scored at the 2005 MAC Championships and helped Miami post a fourth-place team finish.

Reynolds' first season as Miami's full-time assistant was highlighted by Houston's fourth-place finish at the MAC Championships in the 400-meter hurdles and the 4x400 relay team's third-place showing.

Prior to Miami, Reynolds assisted both the men's and women's programs at Ohio. On the men's side, he guided the sprinters and jumpers, and in MAC Championships, the sprinting and jumping events were responsible for almost 70 percent of the team's total points. The Bobcats also produced three MAC Champions, including one NCAA qualifier in the long jump, under Reynolds' watch.

While an undergraduate at Miami, Reynolds served as team manager for the RedHawk cross country team during his freshman and sophomore years. He was named student assistant for his final two years - 1997 and 1998 - when Miami won back to-back MAC titles. The 1997 MAC Cross Country Championship was Miami's first championship team in 12 seasons, while the 1998 squad qualified for the NCAA Championship.

A Findlay, Ohio, native, Reynolds attended Culver Military Academy in Culver, Ind., where he played basketball and football and earned four letters in track.

Reynolds graduated from Miami in 1999 and went on to earn his master's degree in curriculum and instruction from Ohio in 2003.

Reynolds resides with his wife, Virginia, in Oxford. The couple has a daughter, Contessa.

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Ceith Creekmur
Men's Assistant Coach

Former RedHawk standout Ceith Creekmur enters his fourth season as an assistant coach at Miami after wrapping up his four-year career in Oxford. An all-Mid-American Conference decathlete and three-time conference point scorer, Creekmur handles the throws, pole vault and multi-events for the Red and White.

Creekmur helped guide Kevin Dwyer to the NCAA Championships each of the last two years, as Dwyer claimed 13th in the decathlon in 2009, one place shy of All-America status, and finished 19th in 2008.

In his first season as an assistant, Creekmur helped three athletes score at the 2007 MAC meet, most notably Jake Kuhner, who placed fourth in vault and eighth in javelin. Creekmur's two additional scoring athletes were Bryan Ferres, who finished fourth in the javelin and Mitchell Reynolds, who placed eighth in the decathlon. Numerous athletes also set new career-best performances under Creekmur's tutelage, including thrower Dan Beach, who moved to eighth on the Miami all-time top 10 list in the hammer throw (181-0).

Familiar with both the Miami program and the MAC, Creekmur was a four-year letterwinner with the RedHawks (2003-06) and finished in the top eight in the decathlon in each of his final three seasons, including a MAC runner-up finish as a junior. A second-team all-MAC honoree in 2005, Creekmur also earned MAC Track Athlete of the Week honors on March 22, 2005, after winning the decathlon at the Florida State Invitational.

In his final season in Oxford, Creekmur put the finishing touches on an impressive college career, turning in an eighth-place heptathlon finish at the U.S. Indoor Nationals and a fourth-place decathlon finish at the MAC Championships. In addition, Creekmur registered the seventh-best decathlon score in program history at the SeaRay Relays, tallying 6,899 points. Creekmur also left Miami as the school record holder in the heptathlon with 5,399 points.

A Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist All-America honoree as a senior, Creekmur graduated from Miami in May 2006 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science. He is currently enrolled in the master's program at Miami in exercise science. Creekmur has earned his Level I certification in the USA Track and Field coaching program.

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Mark Rodriguez
Women's Assistant Coach-Throws

Mark Rodriguez enters his second season as the throws coach for the Miami University women's track and field program.

Rodriguez began his collegiate coaching career at Manchester College, in North Manchester, Ind., then spent the next nine years as the throws coach at Indiana State, where he built an impressive body of work. He spent two years developing the Louisville Cardinals track & field program into a nationally-ranked team and his throws squad into a dominating force in the Big East. A family emergency cut short his tenure there, but he emerged back onto the coaching scene as an assistant at Buena Vista in Storm Lake, Iowa. He arrived at Miami in the fall of 2007.

Rodriguez commented on his arrival to Oxford. "I am very excited to be at Miami University and back in collegiate athletics, I accepted this position based largely upon the vision and commitment that (athletic director) Brad Bates has for Miami athletics, especially in the strategic planning and concept of the `Culture of Champions' that has recently been implemented here. I'm thrilled with the chance to be at the forefront of a new era of winning for Women's Track and Field and Miami University Athletics."

Last year was a rebuilding year, to say the least, for Coach Rodriguez. He came to the program knowing Miami had no true throwers on the roster for 2007-08, but immediately started recruiting from the high school ranks and from within the team. He was able to recruit athletes who ranked 15th, 25th and 62nd in the nation among senior shot putters, plus the 34th-ranked senior discus thrower. From the team, he took a pole vaulter, a hurdler and a triple jumper and turned them into javelin throwers with one finishing ninth on Miami's Top-10 list. He also took a high jumper, another hurdler and another triple jumper and turned them into hammer throwers. The best of this group also finished ranked ninth on Miami's Top-10 list.

Head Coach Rita Arndt-Molis commented on Rodriguez and the Miami throws program. "I felt very lucky to retain Mark as a member of my staff here at Miami; he is well-regarded in the profession for his professionalism, knowledge and passion. I'm confident in his ability and vision to rebuild the Miami throws program. He recruited some outstanding women in his first season here. With his guidance, I'm sure that they will quickly develop from conference scorers to national level athletes in short order. We will look to continue to grow the throws program here under his tutelage. He brings a balance of hard work and laughter to each session; the women really respond to his instruction."

At Manchester College, Rodriguez's athletes broke 30 school records and 11 conference marks. They qualified for nationals 19 times with 14 of his athletes becoming Academic All-Americans and one athlete qualifying for the Olympic Trials. The teams placed as high as fifth and sixth in the nation and ranked as high as Nos. 1 and 2 in the nation academically.

While at Indiana State, Rodriguez had throwers enter or improve on the top 10 all-time list 517 times, set school records in the throws 51 times, break meet records 37 times and break Missouri Valley Conference records 13 times. His athletes became MVC place-winners 205 times, all-conference 93 times and MVC Champions 35 times. His throwers qualified for NCAA Regionals (21 times), NCAA Nationals (14), US Championships (32), US Junior Nationals (5), and Olympic Trials (6), while finishing in the world rankings 62 times -- as high as fifth and eighth. The Sycamore track teams won six MVC Championships and finished in the top 20 in the nation four times.

At Louisville, Rodriguez's athletes posted numerous bests, including 25 school records and nine meet records. His throwers became Big East Conference place-winners 40 times, while earning all-conference honors 29 times and championships on nine occasions. His throwers qualified for NCAA Regionals 17 times and NCAA Nationals nine times, while also making appearances at US Junior Nationals, US Championships and Canadian Nationals. The Cardinals finished as high as Big East Runner-Up, fourth at NCAA Mideast Regional Championships and 30th in the country.

Rodriguez coached a Buena Vista team that was comprised mostly of freshmen, but still saw eight school records broken. Both the men's & women's teams posted their highest conference finished ever and the women's team garnered academic honors.

Rodriguez began his collegiate career as a thrower and computer programming major at Purdue. An injury ended his career early and led to a transfer to Manchester College, where he earned his bachelor's degree in Physical Education in 1994. He earned a master's degree in Exercise Science from Indiana State in 1997.

He is certified by USA Track & Field as a Level I & Level II Coach, Level I Instructor and as a National Level Official. He was voted 2004 Official of the Year for Indiana after making officiating improvements for the 2002 and 2004 NCAA Cross Country Nationals.

Rodriguez resides in Oxford, Ohio.