Week 3: Where's Abilene Christian?

Well, it's on their schedule and they were on the start list. But Abliene Christian didn't materialize at Saturday's Missouri Southern Stampede.

Arkansas handled all D2 comers easily, although Harding's Daniel Kirwa made an emphatic statement, recording a 23:11 (!!) over 8k to top everyone. Wow!

Harding, however, didn't fare well as a team. Pittsburg State edged Southwest regional rivals Southwest Baptist, Missouri Southern and Tarleton State.

But what happened to Abliene Christian? I certainly hope it's "only" something like a bunch of sick runners. Hopefully the faithful ACU backers will again post a comment.

Update: ACU had one runner in the race and a women's squad. (What's up?)

Elsewhere in d2cross-land:

• Adams State perfect scores the field at Colorado State.
• Apparently, no one kept team scores at Michigan State, where No. 5 Grand Valley State was running. Sounds like the Lakers did quite well. And, hey, you don't want to upset the hosts on homecoming weekend.
• Queens' Michael Crouch won Appalachian State's Mountaineer Open, leading the Royals to a runner-up finish behind Ohio State.
• Western Washington topped conference rival Alaska-Anchorage in the Sundodger Invite in Seattle. Washington won that meet, but Anchorage's Micah Chelimo had another strong showing in second.
• Colorado Mines won Nebraska's Woody Greeno meet, and that's with usual top runner Ben Zywicki coming home as their No. 2 runner. Aaron Swift took the top honors for the Orediggers, finishing second out of 341 runners. Nice work, Mines!
• Led by senior James Krasja, Minnesota State-Mankato swept the St. Olaf home meet, besting some quality D3 squads (like St. John's (Minn.)) and conference and regional foes.
• Edinboro was eighth at the Iona Meet of Champions. Notice who was third, just behind Kent State (!) and Wisconsin? Malone, an NAIA squad which was rejected by the NCAA fathers this summer.

Contour: I'm stiff and sore after a brutally hot Mount Helena Classic. I had to walk twice and took a tumble on the way down, but, hey, I would've been second in the women's race!

Week 3 meet of the week: Stampede! Abilene, Harding and others tangle in Missouri

There are dozens of teams racing in the Missouri Southern Stampede Saturday. This race will be a great showdown between No. 4 Abilene Christian and No. 11 Harding. Despite some off-the-trail distractions, ACU will be tough, and perhaps too tough for Harding. But the Bison will be led by their outdoor 5k and 10k champ, Daniel Kirwa. And this race could pretty much establish the pecking order in the Southwest Region, with No. 18 (nationally) Southwest Baptist, Pittsburg State (No. 4 Southwest), host Missouri Southern (No. 5 Southwest) and Tarleton State (No. 6 Southwest) in the mix.

But perhaps ACU will be gunning for No. 18 Arkansas. From what I remember of the course and area, this should be a great race. Race time is 9:45 a.m. CDT.

• Corrrection: No. 1 Adams State is at Colorado State. No. 2 Western State and No. 3 Chico State are off.
• No. 5 Grand Valley State takes on unranked (and D1) Michigan State and Saginaw Valley (No. 5 Midwest region) at the Spartans home meet.
• No. 6 Queens races Appalachian State (again) and solid, D1 Ohio State.
• No. 7 Western Washington and No. 15 Alaska-Anchorage take part in No. 24 (D1) Washington's Sundodger Invite.
• No. 8 Colorado Mines treks eastward to Lincoln, Neb. They'll race against D1 schools, like Nebraska, Kansas State and South Dakota, but will be scored separately. Those D1 schools don't wanna get sullied by a tough D2 squad!
• No. 9 Mankato State takes on what has been traditional D3 schools at St. Olaf. Unfortunately, No. 2 (D3) Wisconsin-La Crosse won't be there.
• And No. 10 Edinboro travels to New Yak City and Van Courtland Park, which is near-enough holy ground for cross runners. The Iona Meet of Champions is a deep one, usually featuring lots of D1 talent.

Contour: I'm attempting to get into the spirit of all this running and carrying on. I'll tackle the Mount Helena Classic for the first time, which is 1,300 feet of climbing and descending and 5.6 miles of running. Basically straight up and straight back down. My quads already feel it.

--30--

D1 rankings out: Lock Haven, Chico State wins continues to impress

They must wait to build anticipation, but finally the D1 coaches have issued their first poll of the season. The defending champ Ducks of Oregon are No. 1. In-state rival Portland is No. 9.

Based on this poll, there should be some interesting D2 vs. D1 matchups coming: Adams State and Western State (I think) at No. 2 Oklahoma State; Chico State at No. 3 Stanford; Metro State (and maybe Western) at No. 6 Colorado. Good stuff.

A look at the rankings also gives a good indication of how D2 teams have fared this season. And I continue to be impressed at Lock Haven. Their win over Penn State just got bigger, as the Nittany Lions came in at No. 28. Of course, I'm not exactly sure who may or may not have been running, and the rankings at the bottom end of any poll are notoriously wiggly.

But I'd say Chico State got the full measure of No. 21 Cal Poly. And Queens narrowly lost to No. 23 Florida State.

'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.