Oregon dodges Adams State?

Nothing gets me more riled up than a D1 school dodging a D2 school.

Word is Oregon and Coach Vin Lannana spurned Adams State and Coach Damon Martin from participation in the Dellinger Invite in Eugene Oct. 2.

While I cannot find any confirmation of this (I've got messages out to Oregon, Adams State and the NCAA), a few things make me doubt that tale:

• Oregon's "B" squad finished behind Southern Oregon in Corvallis, Ore., last year. The next week they perfect-scored a field at Clackamas Community College that included Southern Oregon (second) and Willamette (third). These two meets for the would-be D1 national champions accounted for half of their schedule, if you exclude conference, regionals and nationals. To some degree, they could care less about who they race against.
• NCAA cross country rules say nothing about not racing D2 teams to get an at-large berth. Those rules do spell out the need for "wins" against automatic qualifiers, head-to-head competition and common opponents. But nothing about D2, D3, NAIA or the Hogwarts School of Wizardry.
• If D1 invitees were worried about a D2 school as a common opponent, they might want to exclude them during the seven-week period before regionals (that's the time period that NCAA honchos base their at-large selections on). But again, looking at the NCAA championship criteria, that would make little sense.
• If this "no more than 10 percent D2" rule applies (can someone point me to this?), it's important to point out that nine teams made it to Eugene last year. If one doesn't return (which is likely in this economic climate), then a D2 aspirant would be out. But, again, I have no way of knowing if this rule exists.

As an ex-D2 athlete, it's hard not to get emotional about this. I'm sure the (mostly) mediocre D1 programs out there would rather not lose to a D2 squad. But who cares about those guys?

I'd like to think the top-flight schools (like Oregon) don't care who they raced.

I admire the programs who -- IMHO -- don't dodge: Arkansas certainly has never been afraid of inviting (and usually trouncing) all-comers. I recall an ass-whuppin' they gave us one fine fall day in Joplin, Mo. I'd throw Oklahoma State in that category, too. I'm not sure Minnesota felt so noble last year, judging from the look on Coach Steve Plascencia's face when I said 'hi' to him after Adams won the Griak last year. But the Gophers routinely send a top squad to La Crosse to race D3 power Wisconsin-La Crosse (and rival Wisconsin-Madison). And Colorado gamely grits its teeth on an annual basis to duke it out with the boys from Alamosa and Gunnison.

Aside from head-to-head competition, the only other measure we have to a team's prowess is the number of athletes they place on the Track and Field News top 50 list. By that yardstick, it would be great to see Adams State and Oregon tangle.