Reich Picks D3 Over Rhodes Scholarship

While we're waiting for action to commence at the NCAA Division III Championships here in Hanover, Indiana -- where it's cloudy and 24 degrees -- we wanted to make sure you saw the story Amby Burfoot wrote for Runner's World Online yesterday.

Burfoot, HERE, reported on Grinnell College senior and Mahtomedi High School alum Henry Reich's decision to eschew a Rhodes Scholarship interview in Minneapolis today in order to run with his teammates at the D3 meet.

Enjoy the story, then check back around 10:30 CST (or thereabouts) for news from the Division III Championships.

Follow NCAA Cross Country with DtB

Down the Backstretch is the place to be all "weekend" for coverage of the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Division I, II, and III.

DtB will be on-hand Saturday in Hanover, Indiana where Minnesota's top small college teams and athletes will compete in the Division III Championships. We'll post news, results and hopefully some photos and audio from the race course.

We'll also post highlights and results from the Division II meet in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania on Saturday where the Minnesota State Mankato men and University of Minnesota - Duluth women will toe the line. (Truth in advertising, we won't actually be there, ourselves.)

On Monday, we will be on site in Terre Haute, Indiana for the Division I Championships. We'll have reports on-line as soon as each race is completed and, as the day goes on, we'll add stories, quotes, photos, and audio.

So, stay tuned to Down the Backstretch for the latest NCAA news for Minnesota cross country fans!

Minnesota's Wilson, Mead Honored Again

Gary Wilson and Hassan Mead are two-for-two.

The Gopher women's coach, Wilson, and the star Gopher runner, Mead, were named Midwest Region Women's Coach of the Year and Midwest Region Runner of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The two earned matching honors from the Big Ten two weeks ago.

Wilson's women's team defended its Midwest Region title last weekend. His team is ranked #6 in country heading into Monday's NCAA Division I Championships.

Mead, who won the Midwest Region men's title, led a 1-2 finish for the Gophers there. Teammate Chris Rombough finished second in the meet. The Gopher men are ranked #12.

High School Report: NXN and Footlocker

In all the action and hoopla surrounding the NCAA Championships -- D2 and D3 will be contested on Saturday, D1 on Monday -- we've been remiss with news about the state's top high school athletes who are now competing in the "post-post-season" phase of the 2008 campaign -- Nike Cross Nationals and the Footlocker Cross Country Championships.

Here's the latest, then, on the preps ...

-- Minnesota will be represented by at least two teams at the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon on December 6. Wayzata, avenging one its only defeats of 2008, topped Bismarck, North Dakota 62-65 to win the NXN Heartland Region boys championship. Bismarck won the Griak Invitational earlier in the season with 78 points; Wayzata finished 3rd at Griak with 155.

-- Wayzata boys' coach Bill Miles was named the Eastbay Coach of the Week prior to the Heartland meet. There's a nice interview with the long-time Wayzata coach HERE. Miles' Trojans were ranked #18 in the Harrier Super-25 poll prior to Heartland.

-- Eden Prairie won the Heartland girls' title 45-96 over Sioux Falls Roosevelt, and is the other Minnesota team sure to be on the line Portland. The 2008 Class AA champs placed three runners in the top-10, led by Class AA individual titlist Cassie Opitz who finished 5th overall.

The Eden Prairie boys could join the girls at NXN, too. The Eagles finished 4th at Heartland and are still eligible for one of four at-large berths to the Portland meet.

-- Minnesota will also send a passel of individuals to the NXN. The top five regional finishers not on a qualifying team earned trips to Portland. Grand Rapids' Jacub Zivec won the Heartland boys' individual title, pulling away from defending champ Joash Osoro of Bismarck in the final 100 meters of the 5K race to win in 15:24. Zivec, a Czech exchange student, was relegated to JV competition during the MSHSL season.

Also gaining national berths were Class AA champ Lukas Gemar of Moorhead, the 3rd place finisher in 15:37, Willmar's Mahad Hassan, 4th in 15:404, and Alexandria's Drew Paradis, 6th in 15:45. Jamie Piepenburg, also of Alexandria, who finished 3rd in the 5K girls' race in 18:08, is the state's lone female individual qualifier.

-- While regional competition for NXN continues elsewhere through the next two weekends -- you can keep track of all the action HERE -- many Minnesota preps are now turning their attention to next Saturday's Footlocker Midwest Regional in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Grand Rapids' Zivec and Class AA girls' runner-up Claire Guidinger of Winona are among the state's early entrants for the meet, found HERE.

The Footlocker Finals take place in San Diego, California on December 13.

Opitz, Gemar Named Athletes of the Month

Cassie Opitz and Lukas Gemar have been named USATF Minnesota's Athletes of the Month for November 2008, the organization announced yesterday.

Opitz, a senior at Eden Prairie High School, was honored for winning the Minnesota State High School League Class AA Girls Cross Country title on November 1 in Northfield Minnesota. Opitz, the Class AA 3200 meter champion in track last spring, won her cross country title with a time of 14 minutes, 24 seconds on the 4K St. Olaf College course.

Gemar, a sophomore from Moorhead High School, was recognized for his surprise win in the MSHSL Class AA Boys race. Gemar was ranked #7 entering the race but topped the field with a 15:32 clocking over the 5K course.

USA Track & Field Minnesota selects Athletes of the Month to honor excellence in track and field and its related sports in Minnesota. USA Track & Field is the governing body of the sport in the United States and the Minnesota Association of USATF sanctions and sponsors track and field, cross country, road racing, and racewalking events for athletes of all ages in the state.

Gopher Teams Rise in Final D1 Rankings

On the merits of two strong runs at the NCAA Midwest Regional, the University of Minnesota cross country teams have risen in the final U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association polls released yesterday.

The Golden Gopher women are now ranked #6 in Division I. The Gopher men are ranked as #12. The Gopher squad will compete at the NCAA Division I Championships on Monday in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The Gopher women were ranked #7 prior to the regional meet; the Gopher men were ranked #14.

Last weekend, the Gopher women defended their Midwest Region title with 57 points. Megan Duwell led the squad with a 4th place individual finish. The Gopher men, behind Hassan Mead and Chris Rombough who finished 1-2 in the individual race, placed an automatic-qualifying 2nd behind #2-ranked Oklahoma State.

Full women's rankings are HERE.

Full men's rankings are HERE.

Surprising Johnnies Enter D3 Poll at #21

The St. John's University men's cross country team, the surprise automatic qualifiers from the NCAA Division III Central Regional where they finished runner-up to Nebraska Wesleyan 130-139, are ranked #21 in the final US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll released Monday.

The Johnnies, who finished just 5th at the MIAC Championships two weeks before, make their first appearance in the national top-35 this season.

MIAC Champion St. Olaf, third at the Central Region with 148 points and an at-large qualifier to the NCAA Division III Championships in Hanover, Indiana on Saturday, is ranked #25 in the final poll.

Full D3 men's rankings are HERE.

Inside the Numbers ... St. John's, which scored 116 points at the MIAC Championship on November 1, scored 84 points against MIAC competition at the Central Region. Four of the team's five scorers moved up in the MIAC pack -- by an average of 8.5 places -- while only one lost ground, and then only a single MIAC place.

St. Olaf actually outscored the Johnnies by a point in the MIAC-only version of the meet, tallying 83 points. At the actual MIAC meet, the Oles scored 75 points. The Ole top-5 was also a half-second faster than the Johnnie scorers at regions -- 2:12:21.8 to 2:22.3.

Central Region men's results are found HERE.

MIAC men's results can be found HERE.

Tommie Women #13 ... In women's rankings, St. Thomas, an at-large qualifier to nationals after a 3rd place finish in the Central Region, tops Minnesota squads with a #13 ranking. Fellow at-large qualifiers Bethel and Carleton, 4th and 5th at regions, are ranked #22 and #27.

The Tommies, who won the MIAC meet by 2 points over Bethel, with Carleton just another three points behind, scored 117 points at regions. Bethel tallied 165; Carleton scored 170.

Central Region women's results are found HERE.

MIAC women's results can be found HERE.

Full D3 women's rankings are HERE.

NCAA-Bound Gophers Run Strongly at Regions

The University of Minnesota cross country teams earned national meet berths Saturday and appear poised for strong finishes at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships held a week from today in Terre Haute, Indiana.

The #7-ranked Gopher women defended their Midwest Region title, beating #14 Illinois 57-64. #29 Nebraska was 3rd with 124; #20 Iowa was 4th with 126.

The Gophers and the Illini earned automatic berths into the NCAA Championships; the Conrnhuskers and Hawkeyes will compete at nationals as at-large picks.

The Gopher men put together the best race of their season so far finishing second to #2-ranked Oklahoma State 42-51. 3rd place Tulsa and 4th placers Iowa State earned at-large selection to nationals via selection by the NCAA committee.

Women ... "We ran a great team race today,” Gopher women's coach Gary Wilson said in a media release. “We went in with the plan to run an aggressive race from the start and our pack did a terrific job is sticking together."

The aggressive racing landed six Gopher women in the race's top-20. Junior Megan Duwell, the Gophers’ #1 runner all season, finished 4th in 20:45. Senior Gabriele Anderson was 12th in 21:24, junior Amy Laskowske was 13th in 21:26, junior Mallory Van Ness was 14th in 21:26, graduate student Felicitas Mensing finished 18th in 21:29, and junior Heather Dorniden was 19th in 21:31.

Junior all-American Jamie Cheever finished 26th in 21:42.

The #7 Gophers, who defended both their Big Ten and Central Region titles from a year ago, will head to NCAAs seeking the top-10 national finish that eluded them last year. Ranked #5 entering NCAAs in 2007, the Gophers finished a disappointed 12th.

Men ... A 1-2 finish by Gopher all-Americans Hassan Mead and Chris Rombough powered the team's runner-up finish. Mead, a sophomore, won the Midwest Regional in 31:15; Rombough, a senior, was second in 31:18.

“We knew going in that Hassan and Chris could compete at the front of the pack,” Golden Gopher coach Steve Plasencia said. “What we needed was for our other guys to push forward and they certainly came through for us today."

Sophomore Ben Blankenship, showing that a young miler can succeed at the 10K distance, was the Gophers #3-man with an 11th-place, 31:28 run, junior Matt Barrett was 18th in 31:40, and sophomore Mike Torchia was 19th in 31:41.

"Ben (Blankenship) ran with great confidence today and was a key contributor," Plasencia said. "We have conditioned ourselves to be successful at the longer 10K distance run in the NCAAs."

Mike McFarland, 23rd in 31:56 and Ben Puhl, 39th in 32:19, rounded out the Gopher finishers.

The Gopher men, who were ranked #14 ahead of the Midwest Regional, no doubt hope to repeat the success of last year's NCAA meet when the team finished 8th -- the best performance by the Gophers at nationals since 1969.

Find Midwest Regional results HERE.

Find complete details on the NCAA Championship field HERE.

Short-Cut: Results' Links for November 14-15

Below you'll find our patented (okay, not really) links to all the important Minnesota results from a busy weekend of cross country racing.

NXN Heartland ... We previewed the D1 and D3 meets earlier today (see below), so here we'll touch on the Minnesota prospects at tomorrow's Nike Cross Nationals Heartland Region to be held in Sioux Fall, South Dakota. Two teams and five individuals will qualify for NXN National Finals December 6 in Portland, Oregon.

The folks at Dyestat have a nice preview page for the meet HERE.

Minnesota team favorites include Class AA boys and girls' champions Wayzata and Eden Prairie, respectively, both of whom are ranked #2 in the Heartland. Also with a chance to place high are the #3-ranked Eden Prairie boys, the Class AA runners-up, and #9 Edina boys, the unlucky 3rd place team in Section 6AA.

In girls' competition, #4-ranked Lakeville North, the Class AA runner-up and the only other Heartland-ranked team from the State, isn't entered in the meet.

Individually, Class AA boys' champ Lukas Gemar and Grand Rapids exchange student Jakub Zevic -- who wasn't allowed to compete in varsity competition by the MSHSL -- lead the Minnesota charge in the boys' race. Class AA girls' champ Cassie Opitz and runner-up Claire Guidinger should pace the North Star State girls.

Find results from Heartland NXN and lots more below ...

Saturday's Minnesota Action:
NCAA Division I Midwest Regional Results: Women * Men
Going to Nationals: Gopher women win, Gopher men 2nd, Mead, Rombough place 1-2!

NCAA Division III Central Regional Results: Men * Women
Johnnies Qualify: Unsung St. John's the lone Minnesota auto-qualifier ... St. Olaf men, St. Thomas, Bethel, Carleton women await at-large selections.

At-Large Qualifiers: St. Olaf men; St. Thomas, Bethel, & Carleton women. Full details HERE.

NXN Heartand Results: Boys * Girls
Three Minn. Winners: Wayzata boys, Eden Prairie girls, Jacub Zivec all win!

Saturday's Other Qualifying Action:
NCAA Division I Regional Results: HERE
NCAA Division III Regional Results: HERE
NXN Regional Results: HERE

Like the MIAC Meet ... Only Even Deeper

Depth has been the theme among Minnesota's top Division III cross country teams this year.

At the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships two weeks ago, the top-three women's teams were separated by a scant five points. The top-four men's teams all bunched within 21 points of one-another.

As Minnesota's top D3 schools motor down to Grinnell, Iowa for Saturday's NCAA Division III Central Regional meet, they can expect more -- and more -- of the same.

Adding strong Iowa squads and perennial contenders Nebraska Wesleyan to the competitive mix only makes the depth, um, deeper. Close battles are likely not only for the Central Region's titles, but also for its two automatic and up to five total national meet qualifying spots. Last year the region sent a full complement of five men's and five women's teams to nationals.

The women of #3-ranked Wartburg College of Iowa appear the sole "prohibitive favorites" in the meet. Behind Wartburg, however, # 12 St. Thomas, the MIAC champs, #13 Bethel, MIAC runners-up by 2 points, #17 Luther, #21 Nebraska Wesleyan, and #24 Carleton, 3rd at MIAC, are tightly clustered.

With a maximum of five berths for NCAA Division III National Championships on offer, at least one strong team is going to get left behind.

In the men's race, #19. St. Olaf, the MIAC champs, head a tight pack of contenders. Nebraska Wesleyan is ranked #24, Grinnell College of Iowa is ranked #28, while Hamline, which finished just 12 points behind the Oles at MIAC, is ranked #32.

St. Thomas, 3rd at MIAC, and Bethel, 4th there, are un-ranked nationally, but they are tabbed as the #5 and #6 teams in the region, and, along with strong-finishing Luther College of Iowa, expect to put themselves in the mix for national meet berths.

Find full D3 Central Regional rankings HERE.

Find full D3 national rankings HERE.

The D3 cross country handbook is HERE, see page 10 for qualifying rules.

Gopher Teams Expecting National Berths

After all is said and done this weekend, the Golden Gopher cross country teams expect to hold berths for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.

Both Minnesota teams compete tomorrow at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Stillwater, Oklahoma where two automatic berths to the national championships in Terre Haute, Indiana are up for grabs.

The Gopher women are the defending Midwest Regional champions; the Gopher men were runners-up at the meet last year. If either of the Gopher teams finish outside the top-2 on Saturday, the NCAA offers 13 at-large berths to NCAAs, selected by committee and announced on Monday.

Gopher Women ... The Gopher women appear strong favorites to defend their Midwest Regional title and advance automatically to NCAAs. The #7-ranked Gophers are the top-ranked team in the field which also includes #14 Illinois, #20 Iowa, and #29 Nebraska.

Should the Gophers finish worse than the runners-up at the meet, head coach Gary Wilson is still confident the strength of his team's performances a the Griak Invitational, Pre-Nationals, and Big Ten Championships will earn the team a nationals berth.

Read the extensive media release on the Gopher women HERE.

Gopher Men ... Winning the region looks like a tall order for the Gopher men. #2-ranked Oklahoma State, running on its home course, is the prohibitive favorite. The Gophers appear to be part of a three-way battle for the region's second automatic qualifying spot. Minnesota is ranked #14, Tulsa is #15, and Iowa State sits at #21.

Gopher head coach Steve Plasencia calls this year's Midwest Region field the strongest ever.

“In addition to the two teams that get those automatic berths, I expect our Region will also have a couple teams earn those at-large spots into the NCAA field,” he said in a Gopher media release.

Read the men's media release HERE.

Find additional info on the Midwest Regional HERE.

For details on at-large qualifying procedures, check out the NCAA D1 handbook (page 11), HERE.

996, 997, 998, 999 ... 1000!

As we head into a busy weekend of cross country -- NCAA Division I, NCAA Divsion III, and high school athletes aiming for Nike Cross Nationals all face regional competition -- Down the Backstretch is proud to celebrate a little milestone.

With our next story, we'll have tallied our 1000th post on the web-site!

We've been in existence just shy of two years now, and it has been our pleasure to bring you the latest news and information from the Minnesota running, track and field, and cross country scene.

Thanks for joining us!

And, see you in another 1000 posts ...

Mankato #10, UMD #11 in Final D2 Polls

National meet qualifiers Minnesota State Mankato and the University of Minnesota - Duluth rose in the final NCAA Division II cross country polls.

The Mankato men, who finished 3rd in D2's Central Region, are now ranked #10 in the country, up from #13 last week. The UMD women, 4th at the region meet, are now ranked #11, up from #18.

Both squads compete next weekend at the NCAA Division II Championships in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.

Find full men's and women's D2 rankings HERE.

TCM Head Seeks USA Track & Field Post

Virginia Brophy Achman, the executive director of Twin Cities Marathon, Inc. is seeking the top leadership post in American women's distance running.

Brophy Achman (pictured) has announced her candidacy for the Chair of the Women's Long Distance Running Committee of USA Track and Field. The Running USA vice-president hopes to replace current Women's LDR Chair Elizabeth Phillips who is stepping down at the end of 2008 after six years in the position.

Brophy Achman will stand for election to the post at the USA Track and Field Annual Meeting in Reno, Nevada from December 3 - 7.

"Women’s distance running is experiencing a tremendous era of growth," Brophy Achman said in her campaign biography. "Momentum for the sport continues, as developing runners emerge and public and media interest grows. Effective leadership fosters this growth; all the while, telling the story of running to the greater community."

Brophy Achman, who was TCM's Operations and Finance Manager from 2000-2004 and who was named Executive Director in 2004, secured the five-year title sponsorship deal between TCM and the Medtronic Corporation.

TCM under Brophy Achman has had regular collaboration with USA Track and Field. The Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon and the Medtronic TC-10 Mile has hosted USA Championships nine times since 2002. TCM has been the host of the USA Master Marathon Championships for the past 18 years.

Brophy Achman has served as the vice-chair of the Women's LDR Committee since 2004.

"With eight years of professional running industry experience, I lead with the strong belief that there is great untapped potential in our sport," Brophy Achman said in her biography. "As an industry, running affords both the professional and amateur athlete the chance to compete in the same event and share their accomplishments, something unique to our sport. It embraces young and old, individual and team competition. I have watched running positively impact people’s lives and begin to foster healthy habits in children and families."

"As leaders, I believe it is our job to embrace these opportunities to further develop our future professional athletes, while offering positive associations with fitness," she continued. "I understand the business side of the sport and the need to collaborate with partners for financial support and to create greater visibility of the sport. As Chair of USATF Women’s LDR, I will lead with passion, insight, ingenuity and perseverance."

Photo courtesy of Twin Cities Marathon.

New Cross Country Photo Galleries Posted

USATF Minnesota recently added two cross country photo galleries to their site.

Long-time contributor Dennis Hahn provided a huge set of images from the MSHSL State Meet, HERE.

Pete Miller added photos from last weekend's USATF Minnesota Open and Masters Championships, HERE.

Moses Heppner photo by Dennis Hahn.

Adam Steele Trading His Spikes for a Badge

A while back, DtB heard through the grapevine that Adam Steele. the 2003 NCAA 400m champion and a member of the gold medal -winning USA 4 x 400 meter relay team at the IAAF World Track and Field Championships in 2003, had hung up his spikes. The Eden Prairie High School and University of Minnesota alum, who has trained with the Eugene-based Oregon Track Club Elite program for the last two years, had endured more than his share of injuries and frustration in his transition to life as an 800 meter runner.

We finally tracked down Steele (pictured), who is busy these days with his new career training to become a member of the Eugene Police Department. Here's what he had to say about his old and new careers ...

DtB: We understand you've decided to retire from competitive running. What all went into the decision?

Steele: It was a tough decision but one that made when I got out of college. I knew I wanted run until 2008 and was fortunate to compete for a number of years after my collegiate career ended. I knew during the summer of 2008 I would reevaluate my situation and make a new decision on what direction I wanted to the next step to be. The last couple of years I dealt with over-use injuries and decided my body and mind were not willing to put up with more injuries. At that point I started looking into other career options. The two options that interested me most were, law enforcement and coaching at the collegiate level.

DtB: How difficult was the decision for you? Was it hard to make the final decision? Have you doubted it since making it?

Steele: As I stated earlier it was a plan in progress. The hard part was deciding what career path I should take after my career. Did I want to stay in Oregon or come home to Minnesota? Did I want to stay in the sport coaching or choose a different career path outside of athletics? Although I miss running over the last 6 months I am constantly reminded I made the right decision to retire from running. I still wake up with pain in my Achilles on a weekly basis. Certain activities cause more pain than others, which I am slowly learning what those activities are. Sometimes it is as simple as running hills or a pick up game of dodge ball. For the general health of my own body I know that I made the best decision for my general health in the future. I am glad that I am still in Oregon, I will have many opportunities to see many of my friends in the sport of track and field as there are many major meets coming to the area in the next 4 years.

DtB: What are you doing now?

Steele: Prior to retiring from my running career I had made plans to ensure that I had a career lined up so I could transition smoothly. After thinking long and hard about which career path I would take after college I decided law enforcement was my what I wanted to do. About a month after the Olympic trials I was hired on with the Eugene Police Department. It should be noted that the hiring process began in October of 2007 almost 10 months worth of physical test, written exams, background investigations and interviews. Currently I am at the Police Academy with a graduation date planed for December.

DtB: What aspects of post-collegiate, professional track do you think the average fan might not understand.

Steele: I believe the hardest part for the general fan to understand is the reason I chose to keep running. No one can understand why people chase personal dreams or aspire to reach the highest goals. Time and time again I would hear the same question, Why are you still training? The most basic answer that most people understand is, it is for me I want to know how far I could take my own body and could I prove the people that didn’t believe in me wrong. The last thing I wanted to say to my kids or grandchildren is, I could have been this good or I could have done this. For the rest of my life I can always say, I am a National Champion, a World Champion and I took a shot at making the Olympic team. I know exactly what I did and what I aspired to do and I will never regret chasing my dreams and finding out the exact answer. Too many people are caught up in the dream story and forget that it is okay to push your limits and see how far a person can go. Far too many people quit early (the easy route in my mind) and criticize from afar.

DtB: If there's one thing you could do over since starting your post-collegiate career, what would that be?

Steele: I don’t think that I would change much. There are times that I wish I would have stayed in the 400m (especially after watching the rounds at the 2008 trials) and there are times that I wish I would have had more than 2 years to try and learn the 800m. In the end I tried something that so many people talk about and don’t actually do. I consider myself a 400m runner and had better than average success at the 800m. I feel as though I had more in the tank in the 800m but I didn’t have enough experience to figure out why I would get hurt in the last phase of training.

DtB: Looking back on all you accomplished in high school, college, and beyond, what are some of the things you're most proud of?

Steele: I feel very fortunate to have great memories from all levels of competition; high school, college and professionally. I feel as though I had some of the greatest coaches at all the levels, met a lot of great teammates and saw a lot of the country and the world that I would have never dreamed of seeing if it weren’t for my running career. After getting outside of my “bubble” of working with and being around elite athletes I am starting to realize and cherish some of the accomplishments I had on the track. While I was competing I was just enjoying the ride and not thinking that I was doing anything different or special then the next person. Everyone else was doing something that I wanted to do so we were all equal.

DtB: What advice would you offer to a talented high school 400/800 meter runner hoping to do well in college and beyond?

Steele: If I were a HS 400/800m runner today I would say train with the 800m guys. The 400m at that level is more of a strength event in the state of MN. By training with the distance runners you will be strong enough to close hard in the last half of the race. The athlete will see much more than short-term benefits. Training with the distance runners and running cross country will prepare/build that work capacity needed for the long college season, training and competition. As you get into your first year of college you can decide the better event for you 400m or 800m. This will depend on the athlete’s speed and strength. That is when the coach and athlete can make a joint decision on the best event for success in the future.

Find photos, vidoe, and statistics from Steele's racing career HERE.

Photo courtesy of USA Track and Field.

A Monday Cross Country Round-Up

Let's start the week off by clearing the desk of all the accumulated cross country news:

Mankato Advances ... The #13-ranked Minnesota State - Mankato men's squad finished a nationals-qualifying 3rd at the NCAA Division II Central Region meet in Kearney, Nebraska on Saturday.

Junior James Krajsa, who ran the 10,000m course in 31:32.70, led the team with a 9th-pace finish. Sophomore Denise Mokaya was 20th in 32.29.06. Also scoring for the Mavericks were freshman Dana Schmidt, 22nd at 32:36.01, senior Chris Janiszeski, 23rd at 32:40.36, and senior Jesse Merkel, 34th at 33:07.61.

Mankato was the only Minnesota men's squad to advance.

Full men's results are HERE.

UMD Qualifies ... The #14-ranked Univeristy of Minnesota - Duluth women earned a trip to the NCAA Division II National Championship in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania with a 4th-place finish at the Central Regional.

Freshman Morgan Place, the winner of six of her seven races as a collegian, was the top Bulldog, running the 6K course in a20:28.6 for 4th-place overall. Senior Liz Palkie, an individual qualifier for nationals one year ago, was five spots back in 21:10.2, while the sophomore trio of Bridget Hines, 24th in 22:00, Whitney Hines, 42nd place in 22:26.5, and Rachael Stack, 50th in 22:32. 7, rounded out the UMD scoring.

Full women's results are HERE.

Collegeville Men Win XC Circuit ... The Collegeville Track Club won the 2008 USA Tack and Field - Minnesota Cross Country Circuit with a narrow 25-32 win at Saturday's USATF-Minnesota Cross Country Championships in Apple Valley.

The Collegevillians, who won the two opening event of the six-race series, suffered three-straight defeats to rivals Run N Fun in the races leading up to Saturday's championship. RNF led the standings by a single point when starting gun fired for the double-point-value championship race.

The 1-2-6-7-9 finish of Collegeville's Chris Erichsen, Peder Arneson, Aaron Beaber, John Maresh, and Tom Myers tipped the 3-4-5-8-12 finish of RNF's Jason Finch, Ed Whetham, Kelly Mortenson, Patrick Parish, and Paul Kriegler and earned Collegeville the season-long title.

The Run N Fun women handily won the USATF-Mn championship 18-63 over Collegeville and easily won the Cross Country Circuit title.

Full results of the meet, which also served as Minnesota's Junior Olympic Championships, are HERE.

MIAC Honors Its Best ... Last week the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference named it's top coaches and athletes. Bethel swept the women's awards with two-time MIAC champ Marie Borner earning Athlete of the Year honors and coach Jim Timp earning coach of the Year accolades. Timp's Royals finished runner-up to St. Thomas at the meet.

Find all the MIAC women's award-winners HERE.

St. Olaf earned both of the men's awards. MIAC champ Duboul Ruon was named Athlete of the Year, while first-year Ole coach Phil Lundin earned Coach of the Year honors. The St. Olaf men won the MIAC team title.

Find the MIAC men's award-winners HERE.

Mankato, UMD Favorites for D2 Berths

The #13-ranked Minnesota State - Mankato men and the #14 University of Minnesota - Duluth women appear to have an inside track for qualifying spots at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania on November 22.

The two squads are the top-ranked local men's and women's teams competing at Saturday's NCAA Division II Central Region Championships in Kearney, Nebraska.

Six men's teams and five women's teams will qualify from the meet. The Mankato men are the #3-ranked men's team in the region. UMD is the #4 women's squad. Mankato's women's team is ranked #7 in the region; St. Cloud State's men are ranked #9.

Full Central Region rankings can be found HERE.

The Mankato men finished 3rd at the region meet last fall and placed 5th at D2 nationals. UMD's women were 8th in the region in 2007.

The Central Region of Division II sends more teams to the national meet than any of D2's eight regions. In Division II, national meet berths are awarded to regions based on the results of a region's teams at the previous year's national meet.

Results from all the D2 regions will be posted HERE.

Update: Minnesota State - Mankato's men and the Univeristy of Minnesota - Duluth women qualified for NCAA Division II Nationals. The Mavericks finished 3rd; the Bulldogs were 4th.

Find men's results HERE and women's results HERE.

Big Ten Honors U of M's Mead, Wilson

The Big Ten honored its best yesterday.

Hassan Mead, the conference's men's individual champ at last weekends cross country championships, was named the Big Ten Athlete of the Year. Gary Wilson, the coach of the women's team champion Golden Gophers, was named the Big Ten Women's Coach of the Year.

Mead (pictured) is the second Gopher in three years to earn Athlete of the Year honors -- 2006 Big Ten champ Chris Rombough did so two years ago. Last season as the Big Ten runner-up, Mead was named the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year.

The Big Ten's Larry Watts wrote THIS nice feature on Mead called A Long Journey.

Wilson was quick to share the praise for his Coach of the Year honor:

"This is really a program of the year honor,” he said in a Gopher media release. “Because without having my assistant coaches in Sarah Hesser and Kallie Suske and various support people helping our team, none of this would be possible."

The conference honor is the third in four seasons for Wilson, he was the Big Ten Cross Country Coach of the Year last season and was named the Outdoor Track Coach of the Year in 2006, his final season as the Gopher head track and field coach.

Read the full media release about the Big Ten awards HERE.

Photo by Gene Niemi.

McGregor Reflects on NYC Marathon

Team USA Minnesota's Katie McGregor (pictured) was kind enough to answer some of our questions about her PR 2:31:14, 10th place finish at the ING New York City Marathon.

DtB: How did the race set up and play out for you? Like you hoped?

McGregor: The race played out well overall. I thought I ran smart, but I did have a few slow miles here and there that I wish would have been faster. I started hurting with a few miles to go and couldn't keep up the tempo I needed to dip under 2:30, which was my overall goal.

DtB: What was the toughest patch for you?

McGregor: Around mile 15 or so and then 23-26 were tough. There was a bit of a headwind the entire time, but nothing horrible. I ran by myself for most of the race, which was mentally challenging.

DtB: We're you pleased with the time and place, or hoping for more?

McGregor: I was hoping for a better time. I wanted to finish at least top 10, so I was pleased with the place. I figured I could run between 2:28-2:30. And if I had a great day be closer to the top 5.

Watch the Race Again ... If you didn't catch the ING New York City Marathon live ( ... or even if you did), you can watch highlights of the race HERE, thanks to Universal Sports. Included in the highlight package is rebroadcast of the women's race in its entirety.

Goucher Named Athlete of the Week ... Duluth native Kara Goucher, who finished 3rd at NYC was named USA Track and Field's Athlete of the Week yesterday. Read the USATF media release HERE.

Photo by Victor Sailer/PhotoRun