A View From Division Two

September 18, 2007

"I choose Division II" is the recent motto for NCAA Division II sports. The question is why would one choose Division II running? It is not for scholarship money; there are only one and half scholarships, or the free swag; my sweats have been in college longer than the seniors on the team, or for the chance to turn pro; though some still do. I did not intentionally choose Division II, Carson Newman College was a good fit for me. The honors program is excellent, the class sizes are small and campus is beautiful. Running was not a secondary thought; the women's cross country team had made it to Division II National Championships the year before. So why would one choose Division II sports? Well, one could choose Division II running for the pure love of the sport, for the camaraderie of the team, for the joy of victory, the desire to improve in the face of defeat and for a little more money.

This is not to say that Division II running is inferior to that of Division I running. It is just as exciting and compelling as Division I running. At the 2006 Division II men's National Championships, there was only a two second time gap between the champion, Nicodemus Naimadu of Abilene Christian, and Julius Kosgei of Harding. Naimadu won the race in the time of 29:17.5. The team race was almost just as close with Abilene Christian's men edging Adam State by a mere twelve points.

The women's Division II race was also tight. In the team race, Adam's State won its fourth straight NCAA title by seven points, edging out Western State. Luckily, Western State had another title to celebrate with the Esther Komen, who won over Massachusetts Lowell's Nicole Plante with a time of 20:09.4. Both champions are returning and many teams are making a strong showing early in the season. With these elements this 2007 Division II Championships is already showing glimmers of greatness.

This weekend has provided an early preview of the 2007 National Championships with many teams traveling to the Joplin, Missouri to the Missouri Southern Stampede where the National Championships will be held later this year. In the women's race, Missouri Southern was highest placed Division II team placing second to the Division I school of University of Tulsa with UC San Diego and Pittsburg State coming in third and fourth, respectively. Missouri Southren's Kimi Shank was the first Division II finisher with a time of 17:34 and Northern Kentucky's Julianne Hoekzema finished behind her with a time of 17:39. Missouri Southern also placed high in the men's race coming in second to Arkansas and Northern Kentucky finishing fourth overall. James Cheruiyot of Harding was the highest Division II placed runner with a 24:47 for 10th place.

In other meet news, the top ranked Adams State's men team scored a perfect 15 to win the Colorado Classic over several Division I schools and Adams State's women finished second to Colorado State University. Anthony Tomsich from Western Washington was the top Division II finisher at the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle, Washington with a 24:22 and a ninth place finish. Western Washington's men finished fifth overall. Jessica Pixler from Seattle Pacific finished in 21:04 for a fourth place finish at the same meet. The University of Alabama in Huntsville cross country teams won both the women's and men's titles at the 2007 Wingate University Invitational Saturday. Charger junior Erin Zellers won the woman's 6K race with a time of 23:20. Concord junior Randy Horner won the individual men's title with a time of 33:47. Edinboro University's men topped nineteen other teams at the Midwest Collegiate Invitational at Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Abdullah Saleh from Wayne State was the highest Division II finisher with a fourth place and the time of 25:08. Wisconsin Parkside was the top Division II team finisher in the women's team competition finishing second behind Marquette University. Rachelle Malette from Wayne State won the title with a 17:39.

I am hoping to provide a reason for following and choosing Division II running by bringing results, recaps, interviews and a bit of an insider's perspective each week. If there is anything you as a reader would like to see covered in Division II, just contact me and I will try to do my best to bring it to you.

Post a Comment

#15	Marty Monahan September 22, 2007 at 6:47pm How can you say DI is a whole different ball game when DII runners compete against and beat DI runners in meets all the time. As a majority DI is faster, but by no means is DI a whole different ball game, when it all comes down to it they are both doing the same thing out there. And good point Mark, keep doing what you are doing. And Cara, BDRC holding it down! reply
#14	Information September 21, 2007 at 2:43pm I just wanted to let you know that Ester Komen is not running this cross country season (07') she has transfered to Harding University and will be able to run again in Jan. 08. reply
#13	Agustin September 20, 2007 at 8:54am Very nice article, keep it up!!! reply
#12	Sarah September 19, 2007 at 6:12am yay cara! reply
#11	Joshua Neyhart September 18, 2007 at 3:17pm very excited to read this!! reply
#10	Nate Perkins September 18, 2007 at 3:10pm DII is about the passion. 90% of my team will never go to nationals but they train as hard and as passionately as alot of the fast D1 guys. reply
#9	Mark From Flotrack September 18, 2007 at 1:51pm Dave, I don't think she is trying compare the quality of the divisions but trying to say that d2 can be just as exciting as d1. I believe that our sport started to fall in popularity because people started to promote the time instead of the people and the race itself. If it was not a world record no one cared. That was easy to do in the 80s when a mile record was going down what seemed like every week. If we started to care about the race and the people in it, I think our sport would be more popular. look at Scotty Baughs race at d2 nationals last year. It was one of our most popular races and it's d2. When Cara wanted to write about d2 i was ecstatic because they compete hard just like d1 kids but get no pub and Cara is trying to change that, so lets give her a chance. Mark Flo reply
#8	Jphawk September 18, 2007 at 1:11pm Get off your high horse Dave, if you read the article you would notice that she wasn't comparing d1 to d2, she was just saying that it could still be exciting. I used to love to watch minor league baseball, may not have been as great as major league but it was still entertaining. I am just glad that with your attitude you never coached any of my children. reply
#7	Kirkd September 18, 2007 at 11:47am Forgot to say... Thanks for mentioning my alma mater - Harding. Go Bisons. :) reply
#6	Kirkd September 18, 2007 at 11:42am Nice article. Keep it up. reply
#5	Dave September 18, 2007 at 10:14am How can you compare DI with DII? I will agree that the top runners are fairly equal, but the depth is not even close. Carson Newman makes it to DII Nationals because the region they are in sucks! Is it something to be proud of just for making it to nationals? Especially when you have a team like Carson Newman who wins their region but places last at nationals. I can say these things because I ran at the DII level and I coached at the DII Level. As a coach, I had athletes qualify for nationals and run well. Not to take any credit away from the DII runners, but DI is a whole different ballgame! Now I coach post-collegians that run US Qualifiers and I can tell you from seeing the sport at many different levels that DI and DII are not to be compared. The same goes for DII and DIII. reply
#4	Smelt September 18, 2007 at 9:45am D2! OHhh Yeah! Finally a little respect. reply
#3	TroyL September 18, 2007 at 8:08am This is great stuff. Looking forward to more... reply
#2	BillHawk September 18, 2007 at 5:37am Enjoyed the article... Good to see some information on Division II Cross Country promoting the competitiveness and the enjoyment of DII ! Can't wait for the next article! reply
#1	Leighton Reuss September 17, 2007 at 8:29pm well put DII analogies. i run DII and look forward to reading your articles! reply