“Sometimes he texts me and asks me for advice on what he should do,” Thomas told me. “He knows I’m a coach’s son, that sometimes our relationship doesn’t work out. He’ll ask, ‘How was it for you in high school?’ Obviously, you’re going to get the worst treatment of everyone because you are the son.”

Freshman Johnnie Guy, who was named an NCAA Division II all-American twice after finishing seventh in the 10K and eighth in the 5K at the Outdoor Track and Field Championships, spurned USI at first. Coach Mike Hillyard recruited him hard at North Harrison High School. But Guy wanted to major in engineering, so he chose Purdue, which has one of the finer engineering schools in the country. But Guy grew disillusioned with the school, transferred to USI — where his twin brother Josh was already a student and a runner on Hillyard’s team — after the fall semester at Purdue and the rest is (continuing) history. By the way, Johnnie is still majoring in engineering.

Hillyard insists he has done little to help Guy, saying he’s already highly motivated. “He’s very confident,” said Hillyard. “He’s very quiet and reserved, but very confident.”

As for Michael Jordan, the senior who earned all-American status by finishing third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the nationals, his future may involve running on the U.S. national team. At least, that’s his goal. “I want to be contender for the U.S. team in 2015, 2016,” he said. “In the long run, the NCAA (finish) is just a small step toward my goal. In four years I hope I can think of this (finish) as just a disappointment rather than a transition step.”

I figured if he finished among the top 20 it would be a triumph and something to build on over the next three years. He came in with the 12th-fastest time in D-II, at 29 minutes, 40.81 seconds. The North Harrison High School graduate finished in 30:50.97, which, again, is pretty amazing considering the race was at altitude and he’s a flatlander from Southern Indiana.

But he’s not finished. On Saturday night he’ll compete in the men’s 5,000 meters, starting at 9:30 CDT. He comes into that race with the 18th-fastest time, at 14:17.48. If Guy earns all-American honors in that race, who knows where he’ll end up by the time he’s a senior. National champion, maybe. Or perhaps national champion times two or three.

Freshman Johnnie Guy seems to have the best chance at earning all-American status, which is finishing eighth or better in the final. He’ll be competing in both the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters. He has run the 18th-fastest time in Division II at 5,000 and the 12th-fastest time in the 10,000. Trouble is, he’ll also be running against several runners who train at altitude while he, of course, trains here in Evansville. Plus, he’s only running his second 10K. “MJ (Jordan) has talked tome about not really making your move more than once because of oxygen debt,” said Guy.

Senior Lauren Minor is making her first trip to nationals. She’ll be running in the women’s 3,000 steeplechase and is ranked 16th nationally. “I need to stay within the top four in the (preliminary race) and make it to the next day,” she said. “I’d like to be in the 10:40s range. I think that’s something I can do right now.”

Freshman Tyler Schickel will run in the 1,500 meters. His time ranks 15th nationally. His goal? “Anything below a sub-3:50,” he said.

Junior Erika Wilson is making her second appearance at nationals. She’s running the 10,000 and has a time ranked 21st nationally.

The schedule (all times CDT): Men’s 1,500 meters preliminaries, Thursday, 6:25 p.m.; women’s 3,000 steeplechase prelims, Thursday, 7:40 p.m.; men’s 3,000 steeplechase prelims, Thursday, 8:10 p.m.; women’s 10K final, Thursday, 9:10 p.m.; men’s 10K final, Thursday, 9:50 p.m.; women’s 3,000 steeplechase final, Friday, 8:15 p.m.; men’s 3,000 steeplechase final, Friday, 8:35 p.m.; women’s 5K final, Saturday, 9:05 p.m.; men’s 5K final, Saturday, 9:30 p.m.

Anyone interested in watching them race, simply click the video link at www.gousieagles.com on the day of the race.

These schools may be bitter rivals athletically, especially in men’s hoops, but they know what pulls in the fans. Even better, they know what helps both schools to earn berths in the NCAA Division II tournament. It’s strictly region based, and if you haven’t played many quality region games outside of your conference, your seeding in the postseason — even the possibility of your even getting in the tournament — is in trouble. Now USI and KWC have cemented two regional games into their schedules before the conference season begins.

DeWitt, the all-region and all-GLVC first team center on the USI men’s basketball team, may not be returning to USI for a possible fifth year of eligibility. Also, I’ll try to make the argument that the renewal of the annual two-game series between the Eagles and archrival Kentucky Wesleyan — despite Wesleyan’s move from the GLVC to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference — may be better for both schools in the long run.

If DeWitt doesn’t return, he wasn’t technically supposed to anyway. He was a senior in eligibility. Getting an additional year is always problematic — heck, anything involving the NCAA is problematic — but he obviously would have been a welcome addition, especially with senior-to-be forward Aaron Nelson coming off knee surgery. I’d still have liked to see how that duo would play out a full season together. If not, well, so be it.

Playing two region games, but not conference games, against a foe like Wesleyan has to help in the all-important region rankings in Division II. USI has been trying for years to schedule more games against Midwest Region schools, but it hasn’t worked out very well. Next season, the GLVC and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) will be joined in the region by the conference KWC moved to, the G-MAC. It has eight teams, considerably smaller than the other two leagues (about half the size, in fact), and USI has beaten about half of those teams already. Yes, it’ll mean more competition for the eight NCAA regional berths, but also a greater chance of playing — and winning — games against region teams not in your conference.

Not to take anything away from Bellarmine, but USI coach Tracy Archuleta still believes his team was just as good as any team in the GLVC tourney. It’s just that the Eagles faltered when they couldn’t afford to falter and lost two games at Bellarmine at the end of the regular season, keeping them out of the tournament. I still think USI had the pitching to go far, although with only six pitchers that might have been difficult if it had fallen into the losers’ bracket. But we’ll never know. Instead, sit back and watch what happens when a team that ended the regular season only five games over .500 (by comparison, USI finished 12 games over .500) gets on a roll.