• BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) -- The Dakotas are not well-represented in the NAIA football preseason poll.
• Valley City State is ranked 17th coming into the season, on the heels of a 9-2 campaign last year. No other team in North Dakota or South Dakota made the Top 25 or even received votes in the coaches' poll.
• Defending national champion Saint Xavier of Illinois is ranked No. 1, followed by Carroll of Montana, Marian of Indiana, Georgetown of Kentucky and MidAmerica Nazarene of Kansas.
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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Drought in South Dakota has damaged the corn crop but recent rainfall might have helped soybeans in some areas.
• The Agriculture Department in its latest crop and weather report says the precipitation and slightly cooler temperatures over the past week kept drought from worsening. The State Climate Office says the dry conditions have stabilized, though

there hasn't been enough rainfall to make major improvements.
• Topsoil moisture statewide is 85 percent short or very short. About two-third of the state's range and pasture land is rated in poor or very poor condition.
• The report says the harvest of spring wheat and oats in South Dakota is wrapping up, and the barley harvest is 86 percent done.
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