East: Rop, Stonehill, Mass-Lowell

Three things are for sure at the East Regional: Glarius Rop (American International), Stonehill and Mass.-Lowell. In that order.

Rop could be an outside favorite in Evansville. But first things first, he's gotta qualify. And he will with ease.

It's a two-team race otherwise, and I'll be shocked if Stonehill or Mass.-Lowell bricks it. They only take two from the East, so Rop's AI squad and others will likely be on the outside looking in.

Stonehill and Mass.-Lowell have had great competition against each other this season. Stonehill won the latest battle (at the NE-10s), while Mass.-Lowell arguably had the bigger win at the New England collegiates race. It appears that Mass.-Lowell (led by Tim Guerin and Angus MacDonald) and deeper through seven, but it only takes five.

Stonehill has those five -- and they run in a pack. At the Mass.-Dartmouth race earlier this year, the scoring five were an amazing two seconds apart. At NE-10s, the 2-5 gap was about 20 seconds. That's team running...and that'll get you to nationals.

Mass.-Lowell emerges

No. 12 Mass.-Lowell topped 46 other teams to win the New England Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association title (quite a title).

Lowell had two under 25 minutes (Angus McDonald and Timothy Guerin) at Franklin Park, and came home with only six runners.

Back in fifth was No. 9 Stonehill. But perhaps their No. 6 runner (Dan Pilz) usually finishes higher? Even if that's so, it wouldn't have been enough to catch Lowell.

• Michigan brought a top squad and easily won the Michigan Intercollegiate meet ahead of No. 4 Grand Valley State. Tyler Emmorey had a nice race for GVSU, finishing second.
• Looks like No. 3 Chico State held its top guns out, while Alaska-Anchorage narrowly won the meet, led by Marko Cheseto and Micah Chelimo (my darkhorse fave in Evansville).
• No. 6 Abilene Christian ran three of their expected top five, losing to Tarleton State. Amos Sang torched the field, running under 19 minutes for four miles. (Interesting distance...)
• No. 9 Colorado Mines easily won at Fort Hays State.
• Harding's Daniel Kirwa won his home meet.

Thanks to those who posted links to results!

Don't ignore Western Washington, Edinboro and Stonehill

The United States Track & Field and Cross County Coaches Association (whew!) released their pre-season poll.

The ranking is by region, with no real surprises, although apparently I'll have to pay more attention to Western Washington, which the association (which doesn't really say who votes) placed ahead of Alaska-Anchorage. I've been pretty bullish on the Seawolves.

Western Washington has high hopes to improve its finish last year in Slippery Rock -- and they have a coach named "Pee Wee" to boot.

It's worth paying attention to Edinboro (yep, that's where Greg Beardsley ran) and Stonehill, who are picked to win the Atlantic and East regionals, respectively. It's about time some East Coast squads made some noise at nats.