Poll newcomers: East Central, Midwestern State, Dallas Baptist

Very little changed on the most-recent USTFCCCA poll. But the coaches appeared to recognize an emerging picture in the South Central Region:
Abilene Christian and East Central (Okla.) appeared in the top 25. ACU’s appearance is no revelation, but East Central is only one of two South Central region teams ranked.
Midwestern State and Dallas Baptist climbed from the unranked and are among five region teams in the top 25 women’s poll.
******
I have to (again) amend my earlier post about when the nation’s top three men’s teams will race this year.
Adams State didn’t race this past weekend, thus not racing (an apparently deep) Colorado Mines. But Adams, Mines and Western State are scheduled to run Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Shootout Oct. 2 -- the same day that many top teams will race in Louisville (including what will likely be Mines’ “A” team). And Mines and Western State are scheduled to race at Fort Hays State Oct. 16. All three will finally race at conference (and presumably at full strength), but it doesn’t matter until the Central Region race in November.

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.