As with all good things, the DII 2007-2008 running year has come to a close. What a year it was. The cross-country season began remarkably with Adams State’s men scoring a perfect 15 at the Colorado Classic on September 15.  The season’s finale was no less exciting, as Abilene Christan’s Nicodemus Naimadu won his fourth DII NCAA XC Championship.

 Naimadu is the first NCAA runner to win four individual national titles in cross-country.  This is no small feat. To put it in perspective, only four athletes, including University of Oregon’s legendary Steve Prefontaine, have won three individual national titles in the sport.  Going four for four is truly extraordinary.

 Abilene Christan’s men won the team title while Adams State’s women won the women’s.  Seattle Pacific’s Jessica Pixler took the DII women’s XC title and set a course record covering 6k in 20:29.  

Outstanding performances continued during the DII indoor season. By scoring points in all but one running event, the Adams State College Grizzlies won their first ever women’s track and field title at the NCAA Division II level. In the men’s competition, St. Augustine’s won the indoor title for the third straight year. Two newcomers made their presence known by winning individual titles: South Dakota’s Emma Erickson took the women’s 800 meters and Queen’s Daniel Kanyaruhuru won the men’s 5,000 meters. Minnesota State junior Katelin Rains won the pole vault with a new national indoor record of 14' 1-3/4". Rains broke her own previous national championship meet record of 14', as well as her own national DII indoor record of 14' ½.The women’s 60-meter hurdle prelims also saw a series of record breaking performances. Adams State freshman Indira Spence set a new meet record with her time of 8.41. Spence’s record only stood for a matter of minutes, as fellow freshman Shermaine Williams from Johnson C. Smith flew to a record-breaking 8.23 in the next heat.

As the long, cold indoor season gave way to outdoors, DII athletes made their mark on the national running scene. The prestigious Mt. Sac Relays saw a multitude for great performances. Perhaps the most notable was Chico State’s Scott Bauhs in the 5,000 meters. Bauhs ran 13:31.90 in the Invitational 5,000 meter run, which is the third fastest time in DII history. It is the fastest DII time run by an American, as the other marks were established by a Kenyan and a New Zealander. This time also met the A standard for the Olympic Trials.  Bauhs had another notable performance in the 10,000 meters at Stanford’s Cardinal Invitational; his time of 27:48.06 also automatically qualified him for the Olympic Trials.  With plenty of fast times, outdoor nationals was quite exciting. Abilene Christian won both the men and women’s team competition.  Abilene Christian’s Winrose Karunde set a meet record in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 10:20.42. New champions were crowned in almost every event including: North Dakota’s Heidi Evans in the 1500 meters, Indiana University- Penn’s Sean Strauman in the 800 meters, and Harding’s Daniel Kirwa in 10,000 meters.

This past year has been an awesome one and I enjoyed covering it all.  I would like to ask you the reader what you would like to see covered next year.  Give me some ideas to make this column better for you.