UAA sophomore Susan Tanui shattered the meet record in the women's steeplechase Friday at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships in Monmouth, Ore., and Ruth Keino added a win for the Seawolves in the women's 10,000-meter race.
Tanui blazed through the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10 minutes, 24.44 seconds, breaking the old mark set by Courtney Olsen of Western Washington by more than 26 seconds. UAA's Hallidie Wilt finished second at 10:47.41, also bettering the old record.
Adding to a strong showing for the UAA women, Keino finished just ahead of teammate Miriam Kipng'eno in the 10,000, winning in 36:37.97. The UAA women sit in second place going into Saturday's action, three points back of Seattle Pacific.
On the men's side, UAA's Micah Chelimo fell short in his attempt to defend his title in the steeplechase, finishing .07 seconds behind Simon Fraser's Ryan Brockerville (8:56.13), who broke Chelimo's GNAC meet record by more than six seconds.
In preliminary action, UAA's Grace Morgan broke school records in the 100 meters (12.09) and 200 meters (24.47). Haleigh Lloyd qualified for three Saturday finals, finishing first in both of her hurdle heads and posting a school record and NCAA provisional time of 14.31 in the 100-meter hurdles.
Also advancing to Saturday's finals were Kelsea Johnson (400), Ivy O'Guinn (800) and Susan Bick (800).
Qualifying for the finals on the men's side were Shaun Ward (400 hurdles), A.J. Allen (100), Ethan Hewitt (400), Isaac Kangogo (800) and Nicholas Blackburn (400 hurdles).
Great Northwest Athletic Conference
Track and field championships
Friday's winners and UAA finishers
Men
Team scores (after seven events) -- 1) Western Washington, 67; 2) Central Washington, 60.5; 3) Northwest Nazarene, 36; 4) Western Oregon, 30.5; 5) Saint Martins, 21; 6) Seattle Pacific, 18; 7) UAA, 17; 19) Simon Fraser, 10; 20) MSU-Billings, 3.
High Jump -- 1) Brennan Boyes, CWU, 6-9.
Steeplechase -- 1) Ryan Brockerville, SFU, 8:56.13 (meet record, old, 9:02.79, Micah Chelimo, UAA, 2010); 2) Micah Chelimo, UAA, 8:56.20.
10,000 -- 1) Barak Watson, NNU, 30:43.83; 5) Dylan Anthony, UAA, 31:23.12; 6) Yonatan Yilma, UAA, 31:31.81; 7) Jacob Parisien, UAA, 32:13.30.
Long Jump -- 1) Matson Hardie, WOU, 24-1.
Shot Put -- 1) Sam Washington, SMU, 55-2.75.
Discus -- 1) Michael Hoffman, WWU, 160-9.
Women
Team Scores (after seven events) -- Seattle Pacific 64, UAA 61, Western Washington 53, Central Washington 24, Western Oregon 20, Northwest Nazarene 20, Simon Fraser 19, MSU Billings 9.
Steeplechase -- 1) Susan Tanui, UAA, 10:24.44 (meet record, old, 10:50.62, Courtney Olsen, WWU, 2010); 2) Hallidie Wilt, UAA, 10:47.41; 7. Katie Krehlik, UAA, 11:29.35; 8. Bryn Haebe, UAA, 11:31.84.
10,000 -- 1) Ruth Keino, UAA, 36:37.97; 2) Miriam Kipng'eno, UAA, 36:44.96; 7) Shoshana Keegan, UAA, 39:12.44.
Pole Vault -- 1) Karis Anderson, WWU, 12-6.75 (meet record, old, 12-4, Ally Studer, SPU, 2003).
Long Jump -- 1) Emily Warman, WWU, 19-1.5 (meet record, old, 19-0.75, Danielle Ayers-Stamper, SPU, 2005); 2) Kelsea Johnson, UAA, 18-7.75.
Discus -- 1) Jade Richardson, SFU, 139-6.
Javelin -- 1) Amanda Schumaker, WOU, 154-1.
Anchorage Daily News