Race of the week: Penn Relays steeplechase

As alluded to below, most D2 distance squads appear to be looking for individual efforts at the country's two pre-eminent track and field relays. (This could change with late entries, maybe?)

At Drake (find the start list here), Harding has James Cheriuyot and D. Dirawa signed up for the 10,000, while Philip Biwott is entered in the 5,000. (Harding didn't get much out of Mt. SAC, as Julius Kosegei was a 5,000m DNF and Artek Kern was a DNS.) 

In Philly, indoor 5,000m champ Micheal Crouch of Queens (N.C.) is entered in the both long races. He can't do both, though, as those start just hours apart. Also watch for Edinboro's Ben Hahn in the 5k.

With the focus on fast relay squads, Drake and Penn don't typically produce fast long-distance races. But the race of the weekend -- from a D2 distance perspective, natch -- is the Penn Relays steeplechase.

Scheduled to go off at 7:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, the event should be a small college showdown between Daniel Maina of Abilene Christian ('08 D2 champ and last year's Penn winner in 8:40), Adams State's Reuben Chbon-Mwei ('08 D2 runner-up) and D3 stud Peter Kosgei of Hamilton (here's his own Web page).

On paper, Maina looks like the guy to beat...

4.23 update: Kern (Harding) will run the 10k at Drake