An accomplished senior, Dan Boniface, is on his way out of the University of Miami as a student, but would like to return next year to help out as an assistant coach to help future stars grow as student-athletes.
Boniface has broken the school’s record for the 3000 meters three times. Despite all of his success, Boniface is a tireless worker who demands constant improvement.
Boniface recently placed second in the 5000 meters at the USF Invitational. He is also heading to California on Thursday for one of the most significant distance meets in the country.
“I am honored that I was invited,” Boniface said. “It is just going to be the coach and me, so I am looking forward to it.”
He is also a leader for the new athletes that joined the Hurricane team this past season.
“I think back a couple of years to when I was a freshman and I remember how the older guys helped me out a lot,” he said.
Boniface originally came from Seattle and lived in Colorado for a while as a child. The senior claimed that the running conditions are very different in all three areas. The change in conditions can make it harder to run, especially when running long distances.
“Here it is humid, in Seattle it is wet, and in Colorado the altitude makes running tough,” Boniface said. “I’d rather run in Seattle and Colorado than here because there is less traffic.”
The Big East Championships are coming up and Boniface is excited because this will determine how successful of a season it has been for him. Last year he placed fourth and would like to place even higher this year.
Running is different than most sports, in that you do not get a day off.
“I have to run everyday unlike some other team sports where it is easier to take a day off,” he said.
The goal this year is to qualify for regionals. The time it takes to qualify is 9:12 and the school record is 9:07.
“I would really like to go to regionals this year,” Boniface said. “It is my last year and I want to do well.”
Boniface has received a job as the assistant editor of a news weekly magazine called The Period. He is already working 40 hours a week as well as balancing schoolwork and his workouts.
“It is very hectic right now with working 40 hours, going to school, and running everyday,” he said.
In the summer Boniface will have more time on his hands. Without school and track everyday, Boniface will enjoy a much deserved relaxation period.

Hurricane seniors Igna deVilliers and Abby Smith paired up in doubles play to help the ‘Canes upset Notre Dame in the final regular season match of their careers.
No. 25 Miami recorded victories in all but one match to upset the Fighting Irish who were ranked No. 24 in the nation. The win finalizes the Hurricane’s regular season record at 15-5.
Melissa Applebaum and Megan Bradley made short work of the Fighting Irish pair of Katie Cunha and Jen Smith by topping them 8-2 to start the day. Staci Stevens and Mari Toro also won in doubles play as they defeated Notre Dame’s Sarah Jane Connelly and Kristina Stastny, 8-5. The Hurricane doubles sweep was completed when the senior duo of deVilliers and Smith came from behind to record an 8-5 win against Lauren Connelly and Alicia Salas.
“We just figured that if we came out here today and focused on every single point and just made sure that we all stayed relaxed through all of our shots, it was going to help us win today,” Smith said.
Melissa Applebaum led the way in singles play by cruising to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Salas. The rising freshman star said that Saturday match was about “getting her confidence back, being really consistent, knowing that she was a better player than the other side of the court, and just playing her best.”
After winning an extremely close first set, UM’s Mari Toro handled Katie Cunha easily in the second set. The final score was 7-6 (7), 6-1. Staci Stevens, Sihem Bennacer, and Sara Robbins also contributed victories in singles play for the Hurricanes.
The lone Notre Dame win came in the first singles match when it took Caylan Leslie three sets to record a win against 2002 All-American Megan Bradley. The final score on the main court was 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Head Coach Paige Yaroshuk was pleased with her teams’ 6-1 victory over the Irish as her squad gets ready to gear up for the postseason.
“This match is big for us,” Yaroshuk said. “Not only because they are ranked one spot above us in the rankings but also because two weeks down the road…Big East [championships]…we want to set a tone going into it.”
The ladies will have two weeks off to prepare for the Big East Championships, which begin on April 25 at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
Smith and deVilliers were honored before the game, but both know there is plenty more tennis to be played this season. Smith is looking forward to the tournament and feels the home crowd will give Miami an edge in the competition.
“Since it’s going to be at home we’re going to have probably a crowd advantage that’s really going to help us,” Smith said. “Even though we will be high-seeded, we have to stay focused and get the job done at every level.”
The Hurricanes will likely face Notre Dame at some point in the Big East Championships. Applebaum is eager to square off against the best of the Big East.
“We just want to win; we don’t care how we do it,” Applebaum said. “We want to beat Notre Dame. They are one of our biggest rivals. Obviously we want to do it fairly, but we just want to win. We want the championship back on our belt again.”

Ben Wolf can be reached at b.wolf@umiami.edu.

Women’s track and field
Freshman All-American Charlette Greggs recorded the fastest time in the nation in winning the 400-meters, and sophomore All-American Lauryn Williams won both the 100-meters and 200-meters as the 25th-ranked University of Miami Hurricanes dominated the 17th Annual Miami Gatorade Track and Field Classic in Coral Gables, FL.
Greggs, who earned All-America honors during the indoor season as a member of the 4×400-meter relay, cruised to the win in the 400-meters in a school-record time of 52.11 seconds. Earlier this season she posted the second fastest time in the nation in the 200-meters (23.19).
Williams, the World Junior Champion in the 100-meters, set a school and meet record in winning the 100-meters in a time of 11.27 seconds. Williams then posted the fourth fastest time in the nation in winning the 200-meters in 23.25 seconds.
Williams and Greggs also ran the opening two legs of the victorious 4×100-meter relay along with freshman All-American Dominique Darden and India Ranson. Their winning time of 44.29 is an NCAA regional qualifier.
Overall the Hurricanes won nine events including senior All-American Sharianne Lawson in the 100-meter hurdles and long jump, senior All-American Patricia Pearson the 800-meters, senior All-American Jamillah Wade in the 400-meter hurdles, and the 4×400-meter relay.
Lawson led a 1-2-3 sweep of the 100-meter hurdles posting a winning time of 13.43 seconds. Darden finished second in a time of 13.69, while Wade took third (13.87).
Pearson posted the a time of 2:06.49, the fourth fastest time in the nation, in her 800-meter victory, while Wade recorded the ninth best time by a collegian this year (58.57) in winning the 400-meter hurdles.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay of Wade, Pearson, senior All-American Saraque Whittaker and senior All-American Sashanie Simpson as also victorious in a time of 3:45.02.
Lawson won the long jump with an NCAA Regional qualifying mark of 6.33 meters (20-09.25) while All-American Gina Harris was second with a jump of 6.10 meters (20-00.25).
In the throws, senior Adrienne Moss set school-records in both the hammer and shot put. Moss finished fourth in the hammer with a school-record toss of 50.80 meters (166-08). It is the second time in as many weeks that Moss has bettered the UM record in the hammer. In addition Moss placed third in the shot put with a school-record throw of 15.88 meters (52-01.25) bettering the mark she set last week at the South Florida Invitational.

Men’s Track and field
University of Miami junior Aaron Bass qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships in the pole vault, and freshman Terrell Walden led six Hurricanes who qualified for the Big East Championships in the 100-meters at the 17th Annual Miami Gatorade Track and Field Classic in Coral Gables, FL.
Bass finished fourth in the pole vault with a mark of 4.90 meters (16:00.75) to qualify for the NCAA Regional Championships, May 30-31, in Fairfax, VA.
In the 100-meters, freshman Terrell Walden won with a Big East qualifying time of 10.52 seconds. Miami had six sprinters record Big East qualifying marks including Roscoe Parrish who finished third (10.65), sophomore Tanard Davis who was fourth (10.70), freshman Travarous Bain who placed fifth (10.74), sophomore Sean Taylor who finished sixth (10.77) and freshman Kelly Jennings who was seventh (10.78).
Also qualifying for the BIG EAST Championships was the 4×100-meter relay of Jennings, Darnell Jenkins, Antrell Rolle and Taylor. The foursome, competing for the first time this season, finished fourth with a time of 41.25 seconds.
In the 5,000-meters, junior Matt Mulvaney won with a time of 14:58.62.

The Hurricanes concluded spring practice Friday but failed to answer several imperative questions.
Coach Larry Coker said he plans to wait until the fall to name either Brock Berlin or Derrick Crudup as the starting quarterback.
“They’re close and we’ll go and analyze the entire spring and see where they’ve come from and where they are now,” Coker said. “Derrick has been in the system for three years and he has come a long way, and Brock is really starting to pick it up. He is quite a talent and he has got a great arm. It won’t be an easy decision.”
Despite the failure to name a starting quarterback, Coker seemed pleased with spring practice.
“I think it’s probably the best spring we’ve had since I’ve been here in terms of attitude,” Coker said. “I think we had some goals to accomplish and I think we got a lot of those things accomplished.”
Coaches named Vernon Carey, Carlos Joseph, Eric Winston, Chris Myers, Joel Rodriguez, and Joe McGrath as the six best linemen, but they will not name the starting five until this summer.
The line has struggled at times this spring, prompting the coaches to shuffle them around to see where each player can contribute the most.
“I’m not totally pleased with the offensive line,” Coker said. “It’s something I’d like to see improve more.”
The defensive line also remains in limbo with both end spots unclaimed. After the graduation of all four defensive ends, several players have engaged in a heated battle for the vacancies.
“Baraka Atkins has really stepped it up, John Square has also done a good job there and Thomas Carroll has improved against the run,” Coker said.
Redshirt freshman John Wood was also trying to earn a spot on the line before breaking an undisclosed team rule that prompted coaches to suspend him for the last week of spring practice.
The inside of the defensive line will feature a three-man rotation of Vince Wilfork, Santonio Thomas, and Orien Harris.
Coker expressed disappointment in the wide receiver position where the team went through most of spring practice with only three receivers due to injuries.
Two of those three receivers stuck out in Coker’s mind as some of the most improved players on the team. Freshman Darnell Jenkins who enrolled at Miami this spring and fan favorite Roscoe Parrish have both made substantial improvements in their play.
“Roscoe Parrish has had a fabulous spring, and he has been making play after play after play,” Coker said. “He’s probably as exciting a football player as I’ve been around.”
Receivers coach Curtis Johnson also had good things to say about Parrish.
“He’s always been a playmaker but now he has a full understanding of what we’re doing offensively and what we expect,” Johnson said. “He’s going to be a big time, big time player for us.”
Senior Jason Geathers, who coaches hoped would step into the departing Andre Johnson’s shoes as the number one receiver, had only an “average” spring according to Johnson.
With question marks all over the field, the coaches have answered at least one question where they say sophomore Frank Gore, who has healed completely from a torn ACL suffered last spring, will start at running back over senior Jarrett Payton.
The team will spend the summer training in preparation for fall practice and its first game on August 30, at Louisiana Tech.

Nate Johnson can be reached at NPJ44@aol.com.

The regular season came to an end Sunday as the Hurricane men’s tennis team fell to Duke in a 6-1 loss. Senior Todd Widom was recognized in his last home game as a senior.
The No. 27th ranked Hurricanes entered Sunday’s match against the Blue Devils with a record of 12-6. Starting out the day was the doubles teams, senior Andrew Golub and freshman Collin Purcell along with junior Luis Manrique and Widom. Both teams lost their matches against the Duke opponents.
Purcell came out for his singles match and earned the ‘Canes their only point of the day by defeating his opponent Jason Zimmerman in straight sets 6-1, 7-5.
“I’ve just been playing really well lately, at least at home,” Purcell said. “I’m one of the few guys who hasn’t gotten injured so that helps.”
The other singles matches included Jonathan Stokke of Duke defeating Miami’s Zachary Hood in straight sets 6-2, and 6-0.
Duke’s Ludovic Walter defeated Manrique in straight sets 6-4 and 6-0.
Michael Yani of Duke also defeated Golub in straight sets 6-4 and 6-4.
“I had my chances,” Golub said. “I served at 5-4 both sets and got broken. The guys were 34th in the country and I didn’t play my best tennis but I was happy. I feel good and glad to be one of the few to stay healthy all year.”
The Hurricanes Golub, the only senior on the team, was honored for his career before the day’s competition began.
The final match of the day was between Widom and No. 22 Phillip King. Widom started out winning the first set 6-2, but lost the second and third sets 6-4, 6-2.
The Hurricanes wrap up the regular season with a record of 12-7 and end up 27th ranked in the country. The Duke Blue Devils improved their record to 17-5 overall placing them 9th in the country.
The Hurricanes will host the Big East Tennis Tournament next weekend in the Neil Shiff Tennis center.
“I think we did pretty good today,” coach Bryan Getz said. “I wasn’t too happy with the singles tennis intensity today, I think we could do better there. We were a guy short so we could only start with 5 guys, which was kind of disappointing, but they did alright.”

Justin Waltz can be reached at j.waltz@umiami.edu.

The Hurricane baseball team left Charlottesville, Virginia on Sunday with a two games to one series victory, improving to 27-7 on the season.
The series began on Friday with J.D. Cockroft pitching the first complete game by a Miami pitcher in 145 games, as the Hurricanes cruised to a 6-1 win in front of 865 fans at Davenport Field.
“That was the best game we have played all year,” Head Coach Jim Morris said. “J.D. (Cockroft) pitched an outstanding game and Jim Burt picked us up offensively.”
Cockroft gave up one unearned run and six hits in his nine innings, while striking out five and only walking one on 103 pitches. The last complete game by a Miami pitcher was Feb. 24, 2001, as Kiki Bengochea recorded a 2-0 shut out of Florida International.
“To tell you the truth, the last inning felt as good as the first inning,” Cockroft said. “I got in a rhythm early and stayed in a groove the entire game.”
Burt led the way offensively for UM, going 2-for-4 with a season-high four RBIs and two home runs. Adam Ricks added a 3-for-5 performance, including an RBI and three doubles. Ricks is the first Cane to register three doubles in a game since Kevin Howard collected three against Georgia Tech on May 11, 2002.
Burt blew the game wide open in the sixth inning with his second home run of the night and his eighth of the season. The three-run shot put UM on top 6-1 and gave Burt a season-high five RBIs.
Burt put the Hurricanes on the scoreboard in the second inning with his seventh home run of the season deep to left-center field off UVA starter Chris Gale.
On Saturday the ‘Canes took advantage of four Virginia errors to beat the Cavaliers 10-4 in front of a UVA record crowd of 1,995 fans a Davenport Field on Saturday night.
The Hurricanes got the start they have been looking for from Brandon Camardese, who pitched a career-high 6.2 innings after being roughed up in his last two outings. Camardese improved this record to 5-0 on the season, while giving up seven hits and two runs. UVA starter Andrew Dobies pitched five innings allowing six hits and two runs but picked up a no decision in the effort.
UM closer George Huguet pitched 2.1 innings to earn his sixth save of the season and 28th of his career.
Gaby Sanchez was the offensive star for the Hurricanes with three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored. Burt and Brian Barton also chipped in with two hits apiece.
Gabe Spooner entered the game in the sixth inning in relief of Dobies. He was greeted with a base hit from Sanchez, his second hit of the night. Sanchez would come around to on a wild pitch by Spooner to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead.
The Hurricanes tacked on another run in the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Richard Giannotti to score San Pedro, who was hit by a pitch earlier in the inning. San Pedro was moved into scoring position on designated hitter Joey Hooft’s double.
Miami put the game away with six runs in the ninth inning, all of which were unearned. The inning was highlighted by an RBI double by Sanchez.
Braun’s finished the night 0-for-4 to snap his 14-game hitting streak, two games shy of the Hurricanes’ freshman record set by Jim Maler in 1977.
Virginia scored two runs (one earned) on three flare hits in the bottom of the night inning of Huguet, who got a double play to end the game.
With two outs in the seventh inning, Huguet came on in relief of Camardese after the Cavs’ Kyle Werman had singled. Huguet managed to get out of the inning without even throwing a pitch, picking Werman off first base to retire the side.
In the series finale on Sunday Virginia took advantage of four Miami errors and 12 walks by Hurricanes’ pitching to salvage the final game of the three-game series, 17-2, in front of 1,358 fans at Davenport Field.
The game was called after seven innings after reaching the 3:40 p.m. curfew to allow Miami to make its flight out of Richmond.
Alex Perez, a junior college All-American out of Bookdale Community College in New Jersey, took the loss (0-1) in his first career start. Perez filled out the Hurricanes’ rotation that was without No. 2-starter Vince Bongiovanni who didn’t make the trip with a forearm strain. Perez went three innings, allowing four runs on six hits before being relieved by Marcelo Albir, who failed to get an out in the fourth inning.
Virginia jumped on top early with a RBI double of the bat of Cavaliers’ shortstop Mark Reynolds and a RBI single from pitcher/designated hitter Joe Koshansky.
UVA tacked on another run in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead on an RBI single by second baseman Werman to score Chris Sweet. UM got on the scoreboard with a swinging bunt by Hooft that scored Braun who had reached on a past ball by the UVA catcher Headd after a strikeout. Braun advanced to third on a double San Pedro down the right-field line.
The wheels fell off for the Hurricanes in the fourth inning, giving up five runs on two errors and five walks, as the Cavaliers sent 11 batters to the plate to take a 8-1 lead. Albir was responsible for four runs with one run charged to Chiqui Chirino, who walked two batters in. Shawn Valdes-Fauli came in to retire the side for the Hurricanes.
Second-ranked Florida State ventures to Mark Light Field next Friday, Saturday and Sunday for a three-game series that begins at 7 p.m. on Friday.

– Compiled by the sports information department