d2cross indoor men's champ: No surprise

Hold the drumroll. It's not news to anyone that Adams State hogged the distance points in Albuquerque. (Not all points were concentrated in the four events, as they got eight from the high jump and long jump.)

In fact, because the points were so concentrated with one team, it left precious few for other teams and doesn't make a good measure of other team's strengths.

According to our d2cross indoor men's championship protocol, the runners-up would be Mankato State. The school's second-ever "half-mile" title went to Denise Mokaya; the school also grabbed a coupla points in the distance medley relay.

The top few:

Adams State 81

Mankato State 12

Missouri Southern 10

Queens (N.C.) 8

Saginaw Valley State

and Colorado Mines 7

--photo credit: ascgrizzlies.com

And the women's d2cross indoor winner is...Seattle Pacific

There isn't an embossed plaque or a Waterford crystal travelling trophy (yet), but the d2cross indoor team champion gives quiet satisfaction to the most butt-kicking distance squad on the track in Albuquerque.

It likely comes as little surprise that the top women's squad was Seattle Pacific. With a distance medley relay win and 16 points in the mile (from Jessica Pixler (pictured at right) and Jane Larson), they packed the most punch.

Grand Valley State had a quietly quality meet -- runner-up finishes in the 800 and mile.

Here's the top 5:

Seattle Pacific 26

Grand Valley State 23

Adams State 19

Shippensburg 18

Queens (N.C.) and

Western Washington 12.

Photo credit: spufalcons.com

ABQ: About that altitude

According to our unscientific poll, readers of d2cross felt that staging nationals in Albuquerque unfairly favored those that trained at altitude. (For the record, 70 percent felt that way.)

Meet results give an inconclusive -- even contradictory -- picture.

One cannot ignore the fact that Adams State swept the top five places in the mile and five of the top six places in the 5,000. They won the distance medley relay to boot. Notable non-altitude performers included Amos Sang (Abilene Christian) and Missouri Southern's DMR squad.

On the women's side, "sea-level" runners won each and every title. In fact, the most notable altitude performers were Adams State in the DMR (third) or Alexis Skarda (Mesa State) in the mile (fourth). And in the 5,000, where one might argue that the effects of altitude would be most pronounced, the best altitude finisher was seventh.

The predominant theme of Albuquerque, as far as the distance events go, was that the favorites took the top spots.

ABQ final: 2 big events win title for Adams State

The important storylines from the NCAA II indoor meet from Albuquerque:

65

That's how many points Adams State garnered, dominating the men's mile and the 5,000. It's one thing to have fast qualifiers, and another to actually pull it off. It's the school's first track title since 1992, and they beat St. Augustine's quality jumpers and sprinters -- and four national title efforts -- to do it. It was fun to watch.

Favorites who came through

Aaron Braun (Adams State) was a monster, winning the mile, anchoring the winning distance medley relay and finishing second in the 5,000.

Jessica Pixler (Seattle Pacific) had a similarly big meet, winning the mile and anchoring a DMR win.

Neely Spence (Shippensburg) settled the question (for now) of D2's best long-distance track runner.

Anja Puc (Nebraska-Omaha) got her 800 meter title.

Brian Medigovich (Adams State) finished his career in style, storming home to a 5,000 win.

Notable performers

Denise Mokaya (Mankato State) pulled off a nice win in the men's 800.

Amos Sang (Abilene Christian) stuck his neck out in the 5,000, finishing third.

Missouri Southern's men were a strong second to Adams State in the DMR.

Upcoming post: What can indoors tell us about who might win in Charlotte? Or even in Louisville?

ABQ Day 1: Seattle Pacific, Adams State big guns take DMR titles

A few observations from Day 1 of indoor nationals:

• Jessica Pixler (Seattle Pacific) proved to be the difference in the distance medley relay. The senior started behind but finished ahead of defending champ Shippensburg and Neely Spence. Pixler will run the mile Saturday; Spence runs the 5,000.
• Aaron Braun showed he's in for a very busy weekend, anchoring Adams State to their first title of what could be many in the DMR. Not far behind was a resurgent Missouri Southern and Brennan Benkert, a pick I certainly missed. My fave -- Metro State -- was third, with defending 800-meter indoor and outdoor champ Anthony Luna opting to run the 400-meter leg.
• Favorites made it through in the mile, including all five Adams State men's entries. Abilene Christian's Amos Sang, notably, did not make the final.
• The men's 800 meter final is a rare occasion where Adams State and St. Augustine's go head-to-head. St. Aug's has six finals Saturday with nine athletes plus a mile relay team. They could theoretically score 90 points (I'm not exactly sure who's through in the 200 yet). Adams has 12 athletes in only three finals and could score 79 points. On Friday, Adams needed to win the DMR and St. Aug's won't be represented in the 60. But the edge appears to be St. Augustine's.

A note about ABQ coverage

Two championship events in three months. That's what indoor nationals represents. And small fields means only the elite toe the line.

Here's my plan for indoors coverage: I won't do live coverage, but same-day analysis and coverage. For Friday, that means commentary about the men's and women's 800 and mile heats, plus those much-anticipated distance medley relay finals. For all the previews of the distance events, just find "albuquerque" in the tag list in the right-hand column. Or click here.

This site should give you the results when you need it. And, assuming your machine and connection are fast enough, CBS sports will live stream the action here.

As always, your comments, analysis and smack talk are welcome.

ABQ indoor women's 5000: Pick Spence (Shippensburg)

The women's 5,000 is only slightly missing the presence of Seattle Pacific studstress Jessica Pixler, who opted for the mile and DMR. But the showdown between two of the country's -- regardless of size -- female distance runners should be great.

Tanya Zeferjahn (Queens) is back on track (literally), after some recent quiet seasons. Neely Spence (Shippensburg), the outdoors 5k champ, continues to run fast after a sorta sub-par cross country season finish. Both ripped 16:13 efforts this indoor season at different meets.

Make no mistake, this will be a two-woman race: The next fastest qualifier is more than a half-minute behind. The altitude and championship atmosphere will narrow that gap, but all eyes should be on Spence and Zeferjahn.

And Spence should win. She's been a little more consistent and appears to have a bit more speed.

On the other hand, Zeferjahn is concentrating only on the 5,000, while Spence will run the distance medley relay Friday night.

Best of the rest? By this time you likely have picked up on my belief that altitude will have an impact on the distance races -- ever more so in this event. That gives Laura Kleppin (Western State) and Marie Patton (Colorado Mines) the edge for third.

ABQ indoor men's 5000: Medigovich a good bet to beat Adams teammates

As you know, I'm an Adams State alum. But I've never seen anything quite like the men's 5,000 field: half of those guys are Coach Damon Martin's athletes. And they've won the fastest five times.

Forgive me, but I think I'm crazy if I don't pick Adams' Aaron Braun, Brian Medigovich or Reuben Mwei for the crown. We all know tactics could slow the final and make it anybody's race, but I'll take those three for gold, silver and bronze.

But who will win between the three? All are running the mile. All have good closing speed. I'm going to go with Medigovich, the guy who would be any other school's No. 1 runner, but is surrounded by some serious talent. A win in ABQ would be (I believe) his first national title in his last race for Adams State. And that would be sweet.

Who are the best bets to knock the Adams juggernaut loose? I'll stick with altitude guys, namely Ben Zywicki (Colorado Mines) or Iain Donnan (Western State). This is gonna be one fascinating race.

ABQ indoor men's mile: Braun best of Adams State pack

It would be easy to say someone from Adams State will win the men's mile. Runners from that school occupy six of the top nine spots on the D2 performance list. But I'll pick someone: Aaron Braun.

Now I've picked Mr. Braun for at least three titles since this blog was started, and, conincidentally, he hasn't won those races. Hopefully I'm not a curse.

But he has had an incredible winter (as has Brian Medigovich), running stellar mile, 3,000 and 5,000 times. This will be his final meet for Adams State. I bet he wants to cap his career with a win.

I will, however, take the easy road with my silver and bronze picks. It'll be Ryan McNiff, Keegan Calmes, Reuben Mwei, Brian Medigovich or Aaron Gauthier. What an embarassment of riches.

The best bet to break up the ASC party? Mack McLain (Colorado Mines). He knows the ASC posse and he's an altitude runner.

ABQ indoor women's mile: SeaPac's Pixler will get second title

Assuming Seattle Pacific comes through (as I have divined) in Friday night's distance medley relay, Jessica Pixler (Seattle Pacific) will be running for her second gold medal of the weekend. Owner of a time that is 16 seconds (!) faster than the next-fastest, it's hard to imagine a bigger favorite. She won last year's indoor race by five seconds. But one never knows, and -- to borrow from sage (?) TV wisdom -- that's why they run the race.

Teammate Jane Larson (Seattle Pacific) and Alicia Nelson (Adams State) battled in Seattle earlier this year; they'll do the same for second this weekend. I'll take Nelson at (mild) altitude. They won't face Neely Spence (Shippensburg), who opted out of this event.

In fact, Seattle Pacific and Adams State each have three in Friday's prelims; the owner of the most points in this event could go a long ways toward determining the women's mythical d2cross Indoor Team Champ.

Grand Valley State has two, including outdoors 1,500 third-placer Monica Kinney.

ABQ indoor men's 800: Adams' Graham will take advantage of Luna's absence

For a reason I'm not privy to, Anthony Luna (Metro State) won't defend his title in this race. That gives Drew Graham (Adams State) a chance to win a title at a distance he was runner up indoors and outdoors last year.

But Graham isn't the fastest man in the field. Saginaw Valley State's Tony Filipek dipped under 1:51 at that very, very deep GLIAC meet. Teammate and fellow senior Charlie Richards was third last year.

Owing to the altitude (trust me, it hurts over 800), I'll take Graham just ahead of Filipek and Richards.