Queens’ Crouch already in late-season form

Except for a hard-fought second place finish in the outdoors 5,000 at Charlotte (nationals), the last academic year wasn’t a banner one for Micheal Crouch (Queens). He appears to be making up for lost time, winning Appalachian State’s Mountaineer Open by nearly 40 seconds over the closest collegiate competitor. Ohio State won the seven-team race, but interestingly No. 8 Southern Indiana tied No. 7 Queens for second. I have both pencilled in for nationals in Louisville.
Coach Mike Hillyard of Southern Indiana appears to have found a way to cope with the loss of David Goodman, who left for Western State. On the women’s side, No. 13 Southern Indiana was second.
When Daniel Kirwa (Harding) is a distant second, you know the winner must be quite a stud. Kennedy Kithuka (Wayland Baptist) scorched the field at the Missouri Southern Stampede. No. 9 Harding and No. 18 Drury were third- and fifth-place teams. (NAIA got the better of D2, as Wayland won the men’s race.)
Remember this name: Adam Volkert of Pittsburg State. His 24:36 on the fast Stampede course was good enough for 10th -- and makes him a likely participant at nationals in Louisville. Amy Pierson (Southwestern)Tabbitha Ashford (Dallas Baptist) was the top D2 women’s finisher (in 9th), but unranked Midwestern State had a better pack and were D2’s best (in second) at the 36-team event. This team won't be unranked when the new poll comes out this week.

Midwest: Young Grand Valley State already has experience

Grand Valley State might start its 2010 national title run with a win at regionals at the well-known Kenosha, Wis., cross country course (ah, I have fond memories of that place!).

GVSU -- fifth in Slippery Rock with only one senior -- will be pretty good in Evansville, too. Soph Tyler Emmorey will leads the Lakers. He's a good bet to win the regional race, too.

The team was runner-up at the Michigan intercollegiates and only barely lost to D3 power North Central at Notre Dame.

Southern Indiana will likely be on guard against a let down. They absolutely must qualify in order to keep home field advantage at nationals. And qualify they should. The team was a strong second behind East power Stonehill at Pre-Nats in September.

The third spot should go to Saginaw Valley State, who have consistently beat likely fourth-place finishers Hillsdale this year.

Week 4 'Meet o' Week': Evansville

Updated Friday: Ok, I think I've got my weeks straight. The Mountaineer Open is this week, not last week.

But Abilene Christian's low-key presence at Missouri Southern threw me for a loop. We'll know more about that seemingly mysterious squad after this weekend's Pre-Nationals meet in Evansville, Ind. If the course is what I recall, it's flat, followed by killer hills, followed by flat. And great for spectators.

Assuming the Genuine Abilene Christian shows up (again, they're on the start list and their sports information department released this), these are the other teams and individuals in the mix:

• Daniel Kirwa (Harding) brings his high-octane self, along with the No. 24 Bison
• No. 9 Southern Indiana will compete for the second time this season. Their rathe large squad will run for the second time on their home course.
• No. 12 Stone Hill -- the top-ranked squad from the East Region -- will race on a course I suspect they'll return to in November.
• Clayton State (No. 3 Souteast Region) will look to surprised some ranked opponents.

The main story here, I'm guessing, is who, if anybody, from Abilene can challenge Kirwa. That's most likely Amos Sang or Cleophas Tanui. If I had money to bet, I'd put it on Kirwa. He'll also gain some nice experience that will come in handy Nov. 21.

Elsewhere:

• The sagebrush could be dusted with snow in Gunnison, Colo., where No. 1 Adams State will tangle with No. 2 Western State. These two race each other so often (as spelled out in a Running Times article), that not every meet can rise to the "Meet o' Week."
• No. 3 Chico State travels to No. 3 (D1) Stanford. This will be a good indication of where Elam, Rodgers & Co. are at, as the field includes a couple of other ranked D1 schools.
• No. 6 Queens and Michael Crouch won't be challenged at the Conference Carolinas meet. (Note: NOT! It's next month, dude.)
• No. 10 Edinboro host a small home meet.

No. 4 Grand Valley State, No. 7 Colorado Mines, No. 8 Western Washington are idle.

Contour: Due to the sheer number of meets, I'm tracking the whereabouts of our top 10, as determined by the USTFCCCA. If there's another meet that should be a "cracker" (British for kick-butt), please inform me.

'Cross nats return to Evansville

While Albuquerque gets the D2 indoor meet for the next two years, cross will return to Evansville, Ind., for 2009.

I was there for the 2004 meet -- hosted by Southern Indiana -- when Western State again defeated their in-state rivals during the Mountaineers years of dominance (it was their fifth title in six years). A flat start and finish is interrupted by some sharp hills in the woods. It was one of those particularly sharp ones that Western flexed its muscle and won handily.

As you may recall, the NCAA has proposed another fall sports "festival" in 2010 -- and may push the championship race into December.

Sweep-stakes

There is something cool when you see a school sweep an event. And why does it NOT surprise me when one school dominates a distance race. Steeplechase, with its peculiar skills, is a good example. In their respective D2 conference meets last weekend, these four schools turned in these four performances:
Chico State: 1-2-3
Grand Valley State: 1-2-4
Southern Indiana: 1-2
Emporia State: 2-4-5.
In an individual sport like track and field, I like the idea of a group of guys willing each other to perform.