Boaz Cheboiywo is ready to run. Saying he's in the best shape of his life, the Eastern Michigan senior is projecting total confidence in defense of his NCAA cross country crown.

"There's no doubt that I'm going to come out victorious," he told Bob Ramsack of mensracing.com.

The Stanford men appear ready to do some major damage after putting six in the top nine at the West regional. Coach Vin Lananna, not wanting to be jinxed, put it safely: "We ... are looking forward to the upcoming national competition."

The Brigham Young University women also appear more than ready. Says coach Patrick Shane: "I'm very optimistic going into nationals. It's where we want to be. We have seven women all running well, and we don't have a weakness."

But not everyone feels totally ready. Kip Kangogo, one of the favorites for the men's crown (he beat Cheboiywo earlier this season), is nursing a sore hamstring and is probably feeling a little short on confidence.

Last weekend's regional meets set up a few potential surprises for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships (Nov. 25, Terre Haute, Ind.):

For instance, everyone expected the mighty Buffaloes of Colorado to come home from the Mountain regional with a win and a second-place trophy. But a pair of second-places? That's what happened when the mighty Buff men were upset by 11th-ranked Northern Arizona. The Colorado women performed as expected with the BYU women placing first as Michaela Mannova of BYU won the women's race. Colorado's Jorge Torres dominated the men.

In the West, Stanford dominated the men's race over Oregon, while the Stanford women also won, beating Arizona State. Both individual winners came from Stanford, Donald Sage (30:13) and Alicia Craig (20:39).

The Midwest regional saw Missouri and the Northwestern women (the latter a stunner) make nationals. Amy Mortimer of Kansas State edged DePaul's Erin Moffett. On the men's side, Iowa and Minnesota got the nod with Andrew Carlson of Minnesota winning.

In the South Central, Arkansas and Texas made it on the women's side. For the men, Arkansas narrowly edged unranked SMU. Alistair Cragg won the men's race, Karen Van Rooyen of SMU the women's.

In the Southeast, Wake Forest and N.C. State made it for the women, N.C. State and William and Mary for the men. Jason Meany of Clemson narrowly edged William and Mary's Ed Moran.

Columbia and Providence's women made it in the Northeast, while Iona and Providence took the men's slots. Tom McArdle of Dartmouth won the men's race. Yale's Kate O'Neill won, with her sister Laura in third.

In the Mid-Atlantic, the men's and women's squads from Georgetown and Villanova made it. Georgetown's Mike Smith beat Villanovan Adrian Blincoe at the finish. Megan Metcalfe won the women's race for West Virginia.

In the South, both Tennessee's women and men made it (the latter in an upset win over Alabama). David Kimani and Peter Kiprono of Alabama came across the line together. Florida State's women's team also snuck in, led by Vicky Gill, a winner by nearly 40 seconds.

Notre Dame and Michigan's women took the top two spots in the Great Lakes regional, while Wisconsin and Eastern Michigan made it for the men. Boaz Cheboiywo and teammate Gavin Thompson took 1-2. Briana Shook of Toledo won the women's race.

An additional 13 teams for each sex were selected for the meet on an at-large basis.

Marathon succumbs to TV pressure
The International Athletics Association Federation Council has flip-flopped on the question of the starting time of the Olympic marathon in Athens in 2004. According to the organization's Web site, "Following careful examination of studies provided by medical experts regarding the Heat Stress Factor (the physiological effect of heat and humidity), Council recommended that the Marathon races at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens should start at 19:00 in the evening -- a time when the effects of heat on athletes is more bearable than at earlier times of the day, and also reduces as the race unfolded. The only other option would be an early morning start of 07:00."

The next day, after a discussion with the Athens Organizing Committee, the IAAF's Istvan Gyulai announced the races would be switched to the morning start time. He said that the move was inspired by a concern for the athletes' health, but he candidly noted, "Television will need daylight and because of this 7 a.m. in the morning seems a more appropriate time."

Apparently none of the TV people involved in the discussions have seen films of Abebe Bikila running barefoot through the dark streets of Rome on his way to his first gold medal and a world record. Even if the cameramen had to use flashlights, the drama in that race overpowered anything that could have been filmed in daylight.

Track regionals to debut
The first NCAA track regionals will make their mark the weekend of May 30-31, at four different sites: East (Fairfax, Va.), Mid-East (Columbus, Ohio), Midwest (Lincoln, Neb.) and West (Stanford). It will take a while getting used to the regional setup. For me, looking at the 2004 sites, it will take a while to get used to the notion that College Station, Texas, is in the Midwest.

Other news
At the Tokyo Marathon, Banuelia Mrashani of Tanzania shocked many by cutting nearly five minutes off her best to edge favored Rie Matsuoka, 2:24:59 to 2:25:02. Also in the race was Portuguese 10,000 meter legend Fernanda Ribeiro. Her long-awaited marathon debut did not pan out as expected, and she finished 10th in 2:37:04.

The IAAF has awarded the 2007 World Championships to Osaka, marking the return of the meet to Japan 16 years after the amazing 1991 version in Tokyo. The 2003 version is in Paris, 2005 in Helsinki.

Jeff Hollobaugh, former managing editor of Track and Field News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached by e-mail at michtrack@aol.com.