Kirwa wins, but Stonehill best in Evansville

Harding's Daniel Kirwa delivered at Pre-Nationals in Evansville, while Abilene Christian continued to run a partial roster. Harding went 1-3 (Philip Biwott) and Abilene went 2-4 (Amos Sang and Cleophas Tanui), but it was Stonehill (Mass.) that took the team title. Host Southern Indiana was second.

Missing from Abilene's roster was Daniel Maina. With him, it would've been tight. It's also interesting to note that newcomer Colby Delbene was a solid 11th for ACU; while still waiting in the wings are Welshman Craig Peters and Frenchman Romain Rybicki. So suffice it to say that Abilene will be better.

Stonehill, meanwhile, put five within one minute. Expect that squad, led Saturday by Pat Fullerton and Dan Pilz, to return in November. Can they finish top 5?

Elsewhere in D2cross-land:

• No. 1 Adams State sat out their big guns, while No. 2 Western State did not ... and you already know what the result was. Iain Donnan and Tyler Pennell continue to lead the Mountaineers, who travel either to Boulder, Co., or Stillwater, Okla., (or both) next.
• No. 3 Chico State (and the rest of the field) watched host Stanford sweep the top five scoring places. Chico's Jimmy Elam trailed the Cardinal 5 by a half minute, while Beau Rodgers had an apparent off day in 31st. Chico also finished behind Cal and Cal-Davis.
• No. 6 Queens was off. (They still won't be challenged at the Conference Carolinas meet in October.)
• No. 10 Edinboro ran their "Rag Relays" at home, which consists of teams of three completing metric mile laps. Hmmm.
• No. 18 Southwest Baptist won the D2 portion of the Roy Griak Invite in the Twin Cities. Meanwhile, No. 11 Minnesota-Mankato was a distant fourth.

Contour: Thanks to all who posted Saturday.