Anchorage Daily News

On what could go down as the greatest single day in the history of UAA cross country, the Seawolves all but ran away with the show Saturday at the NCAA Division II West Region championships in San Francisco:

Click to enlarge

Wilt

Click to enlarge

Cheseto

Story tools

Comments (0)

E-mail a friend

Print

Share on Facebook

Digg this

Seed Newsvine

Send link via AIM

Follow on Twitter

Font size : A | A | A

• A team championship for the women.

• An individual championship for Marko Cheseto, the first region crown for a UAA runner.

• Eight All-Region performances, meaning eight runners finished in the top 15 -- five women and three men.

• Berths at the Nov. 21 national championships for both the men and women, something that's happened only twice before for the Seawolves.

• A 3-4-5 finish for the women, led by Unalaska's Hallidie Wilt.

• A third All-Region performance by senior Laura Carr, the first UAA woman to pull off the feat.

In short, there was lots for the Seawolves to celebrate.

The women, ranked fifth in the nation, captured first place in a tough field that included three other top-10 teams, while the men scraped out a third-place finish. The region's top four women's teams and top three men's teams qualified for the Nov. 21 national championships in Evansville, Ind.

The Seawolves will go to nationals with their women's squad in nearly peak form.

With Wilt leading the way, UAA put three runners in the top five, four in the top nine and five in the top 14. Just 34.2 seconds separated third-place Wilt from 14th-place Shoshana Keegan.

"We knew they were very strong candidates to move onto the national meet, so really we just wanted them to be relaxed, run strong and be confident," UAA coach Michael Friess said. "We told them they could relax and (not) have any fear."

The men heard a difference message before their race.

"We knew it was going to be really hard for them to advance as a team, and everybody had to do their job if we were to do that," Friess said. "It wasn't like the women's situation. No, guys, you can't relax. You have to run hard."

And they did.

Cheseto, a junior from Kenya who was second in the region a year ago, captured first place in the 10-kilometer race with a time of 30 minutes, 42.5 second -- a 17-second edge over Jordan Welling of Western Washington.

Micah Chelimo, a freshman from Kenya, grabbed third place in 31:05.6 and Alfred Kangogo, a sophomore from Kenya, was 10th in 31:35.8.

All three earned All-Region honors. So did five of the women, including Wilt, a junior who joined the team as a freshman walk-on after placing fifth at the Class 1-2-3A state high school championships in her senior year at Unalaska.

"I'm real impressed with Hallidie," Friess said. "That's a tremendous effort to finish third."

Wilt finished the 6-K race in 21:11.5, more than a minute behind champion Jessica Pixler of Seattle Pacific and just a shade ahead of teammate Ruth Keino, a sophomore from Kenya who was fourth in 21:11.8.

Other All-Region runners for the Seawolves were Miriam Kipngeno, a freshman from Kenya (fifth in 21:17.9); Laura Carr, a senior from Indiana (ninth in 21:30.3) and Keegan, a sophomore from Anchorage (14th in 21:45.7).

Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4335.

NCAA Division II

West Region Championships

in San Francisco

Men's team scores (top 3) -- Chico State 42, Western Washington 74, UAA 96.

Men's 10-kilometer -- 1) Marko Cheseto, UAA, 30:42.5; 2) Jordan Welling, WWU, 30:59.4; 3) Micah Chelimo, UAA, 31:05.6; 4) Brent Handa, Chico, 31:07.8 ; 5) Jimmy Elam, Chico, 31:11.4; 6) Beau Gradone-Rogers, Chico, 31:16.4; 7) Anthony Tomsich, WWU, 31:23.7; 8) Chris Reed, Western Oregon, 31:26.1; 9) Michael Wickman, Chico, 31:30.9; 10) Alfred Kangogo, UAA, 31:35.8.

Other UAA finishers -- 37) Paul Rottich 33:04.7; 47) Michael Adams 33:32.7; 72) Thomas Hill 34:30.0; 74) William Estes 34:33.6.

UAF finishers -- 83) Sam Tilly 34:56.5; 94) Alex Weissberg 35:38.6; 122) Joseph Dewilde 37:45.3; 128) Cody Priest 39:59.2; 130) Ian Longridge 42:32.3.

Women's team scores (top 3) -- 1) UAA 35, 2) Chico State 55, 3) Seattle Pacific 75.

Women's 6-kilometer -- 1) Jessica Pixler, Seattle Pacific, 20:08.9; 2) Sarah Porter, WWU, 20:42.3; 3) Hallidie Wilt, UAA, 21:11.5; 4) Ruth Keino, UAA, 21:11.8; 5) Miriam Kipngeno, UAA, 21:17.9; 6) Tori Tyler, Chico, 21:23.5; 7) Jane Larson, Seattle Pacific, 21:28.8; 8) Julie Shaw, Chico, 21:29.4; 9) Laura Carr, UAA, 21:30.3; 10) Vivien Wadeck, Cal State-LA, 21:34.2.

Other UAA finishers -- 14) Shoshana Keegan 21:45.7; 26) Emma Bohman 22:19.7; 39) Ariel Roelle 22:54.5.

UAF finishers -- 23) Theresia Schnurr 22:10.5; 71) Maria Stenslund 23:47.2; 74) Heather Edic 23:50.6; 80) Jana Benedix 23:53.8; 155) Kate Bennett 28:29.1; 158) Megan Thompson 29:37.8.

Other Alaska finishers -- 25) Denali Foldager, Cal State-Stanislaus, 22:18.2; 32) Rubye Foldager, Cal State-Stanislaus, 22:45.7.

ADVERTISEMENT