Steeplechase: Chebon-Mwei will win again

Daniel Maina (Abilene Christian) is last year's champ. Reuben Chebon-Mwei (Adams State) outpaced him at this year's Penn Relays. I figure the men's steeplechase title should come down to these two -- and Chebon-Mwei gets the nod, mostly based on the Penn performance (both will likely run the 5,000 final 3 1/2 hours later). But anything can happen, and that's where Alaska-Anchorage's David Kiplagat comes in.

1. Reuben Chebon-Mwei (Adams State)

2. Daniel Maina (Abilene Christian)

3. David Kiplagat (Alaska-Anchorage)

All-Americans: Loren Ahonen (Western State); Nate Preston (Wayne State, Neb.); Matt Schneider (Wayne State, Neb.)

Wayne State waders

It escaped my notice initially, but Wayne State (Neb. not Mich.) had two fine efforts from its steeplechase crew at Drake Relays recently.

Nate Preston and Matt Schneider -- both in-state recruits -- dipped just below the D2 auto qualifying mark of 9:09.

That means that Wayne State of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference has more auto steeple qualifiers than any other school.