LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) _ Last year's team champions will be on hand Monday to defend their NCAA Division I cross-country titles at the University of Kansas' challenging Rim Rock Farm course.
And the Stanford men and Brigham Young women are among the favorites to win this year, said Kansas coach Gary Schwarz.
The Stanford men's team, ranked No. 2 in the cross-country coaches' poll, won the West regional qualifier to advance to the championship meet along with 17 other automatic qualifiers and 13 at-large selections.
Top returning runners from last year include Abdi Abdirahman of Arizona, who finished seventh last year and won this year's West regional meet, Stanford's Brad Hauser, Brent Hauser and Jason Balkman, all top 20 finishers last year, and Colorado's Adam Goucher.
Also running is Butler's Julius Mwangi, who set an 8-K course record by 10 seconds with a 23:47.5 last month in the Bob Timmons Invitational. That meet was a tune-up meet for the NCAA championships, which will be run at the 10K distance for Division I and II men, 5K for Division I women and 6K for Division II women.
Schwarz pointed to Mwangi as a solid prospect for individual honors since he outran Goucher last month on the same course.
"It's hard for me to believe that anyone could beat (Mwangi)," Schwarz said.
Goucher, who finished second, had set the course record at the Big Eight Championships as a freshman in 1995.
Goucher, who was runner-up in the NCAA championship as a freshman and third last year, leads a strong Colorado team that won the Mountain region meet last week. Other strong entries include Oregon from the West and Michigan State from the Great Lakes region.
The Big Ten Conference placed five men's teams and three women's teams in the championship meet.
Top-ranked Arkansas, which last year finished second just three points behind Stanford, won the South-Central regional to qualify.
Defending champion Brigham Young returns to defend its 1997 women's title, along with last year's runner-up, Stanford, and third-place Colorado.
Amy Skieresz of Arizona, last year's NCAA individual runnerup, returns after winning the West regional title for the fourth straight year.
Skieresz also won the women's 5K last month at the Timmons Invitational.
"She said you have to concentrate on what you're doing on this course," Schwarz said. "You can't just go out and run fast. There are lots of turns and changes, lots of little hills and dales."
The defending national champion is Carrie Tollefson of Villanova, who won the East regional title last week.
Monday also will be "Bob Timmons Appreciation Day" in Lawrence. Timmons was Kansas track and cross-country coach from 1966 to 1987.
The Rim Rock Farm course is owned by Timmons, and races go over a covered bridge, several loops through woods, and steep climbs and tricky descents that challenge the best runners.
Copyright 1998 By The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.