The 23rd annual Division II National Championships, to be held at Minnesota-Mankato’s Myers Field house, is less than three weeks away. As excitement builds for this event, I thought I would take a break from my weekly interviews in order to highlight the teams and athletes to watch at the upcoming conference meets. (Three conferences have already finished their meets: Central intercollegiate Athletic association, Great Northwest Athletic Conferance, and Northwest 10.) Great Lake Intercollegiate Athletic Conference -According to U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches association, Ashland should easily sweep this conference on the men’s side. On the women’s side it will be a close meet between Ashland and Grand Valley State. In the women’s 400m the race to watch will be between Ashland’s Stephanie Tinney and Hillsdale’s power-duo Jazmin Williams and Marta Scheiwe. The men’s 400m will be a tight competition between Ashland’s Joe Horn and Hillsdale’s Jared Krout. Ashland’s Dan Tierney has the highest Division II pole vault mark of the season with his vault of 5.06m. Findlay’s Kirby Blackley has the fastest mark in the women’s 60m hurdles with a time of 8.33. Great Lakes Valley Conference -On the men’s side it looks like the obvious favorite for the team title is Southern Illinois University. On the women’s side it looks like a tight competition for the team title between Lewis University and Southern Illinois University. Southern Illinois’s Kyle Rose has the fastest Division II time in the nation for the men’s 400m (47.65) and should provide a good race. Wisconsin-Parkside’s Naomi Fulton currently ranks third in the nation in the women’s mile with a time of 4:56. Her teammate Jessica Lamp has run a 2:10 for the 800m. Mid American Intercollegiate- On the men’s side it will be between Central Missouri and Pittsburg State for the team title. On the women’s side it will be between Missouri Southern and Central Missouri. In the men’s 60m dash it could be a close race between Emporia’s Kenton Lonberger(6.83) and Northwest Missouri State’s E.J. Faulkner(6.85). North Central -On both the men’s and women’s side it looks like it will be a close competition for the team title between Augunstana College and University of Nebraska at Omaha. Nebraska-Omaha’s Pinar Saka owns the fastest Division II times in the women’s 200m (24.49) and 400m (53.91). Minnesota State-Mankato’s Katelin Rains has the highest mark for the women’s pole vault with the height of 4.28m. Her teammate Denise Mokaya has the second fastest time in the men’s 800m with a time of 1:51.41. Northern Sun Intercollegiate -In the quest for the men’s team title it appears to be a competition between Northern State, Minnesota State University-Moorhead and Wayne State- Nebraska. For the women’s team title the competition is between Wayne State Nebraska, Winona State and Minnesota State University-Moorhead. Moorhead’s Ashley Roemer will be one to watch in the women’s 800m having a current time of 2:12. Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference -In both the men’s and women’s side in the team competition, it appears to be a race between Shippensburg and Kuztown with both Lockhaven and Slippery rock competing. Lockhaven’s Chelsea Morse currently holds the third highest jump in the high jump with 1.74m. Rocky Mountain Conference -The team competition on both men’s and women’s side will be dominated by Adam’s State. The possible underdogs include Western State, Chadron State and University of Nebraska-Kearney. Adams State’s Nick Lara (1:51.89) will have a tight race with Colorado School of the Mine’s Mark Husted (1:52.45) in the men’s 800m run. In the women’s 200m dash Adams State teammates Sherline Duncan and Indira Spence will have a close race, both having run 24.89. Adams State’s Tanya Gaumer has the second fastest mile time in Division II with a 4:54. The above is just a shortpreview of this weekend’s conference meets. I will hopefully be back next week with a recap of all the conference meets (including those that have already occurred). I will see you then with fast times and qualifying marks.