UAA women have a shot at filling the heptathlon podium after their opening-day performances Monday in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Multi Championships landed them in the top three spots through four of seven events.
Karolin Anders, a five-time All-American in multi-events, leads the Seawolves trio after racking 3,071 points at St. Martin's University in Lacey, Washington.
Anders is 228 points ahead of teammate and fellow junior Rosie Smith (2,843 points). UAA senior Haleigh Lloyd is tied for third with 2,777 points.
Meanwhile, UAA junior Travis Turner sits third in the men's decathlon with 3,328 points through five of 10 events.
The Multi meet wraps Tuesday.
"We're very happy with Day 1,'' UAA coach Michael Friess said by cellphone. "Obviously, it's a two-day meet and we have to continue that momentum.''
Anders and Smith delivered top marks in the four events contested Monday. Anders dominated the field events by clearing 5 feet, 7 inches in the high jump and heaving the shot put 38-7.25. Smith posted the fastest times on the track with her personal-best 14.33 seconds in the 100 hurdles and a 25.69 in the 200 meters.
Smith already owns a provisional qualifier for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships with the 4,613 points she earned at the Mt. Sac Relays and California Combined Events meet two weeks ago. That ranks her 20th in Division II this season.
Anders, the runner-up at the 2014 outdoor NCAAs, still needs a qualifier – the provisional qualifier for outdoor nationals is 4,377 and Anders' personal-best is 5,375. She fouled on all three of her long jump attempts at Mt. Sac to scuttle her chances of a national qualifier from that meet.
Lloyd, a senior whose GNAC-record 59.20 in the 400 hurdles ranks fourth in Division II this season, is competing in heptathlon this season for the first time since 2013. Friess said she has prospered even without focusing on specific heptathlon training this season.
"She's athletic, and she's open to new things,'' Friess said.
Turner set two personal bests and tied another Monday in his five events. He posted career-high marks in the 100 meters (11.41) and 400 meters (50.64), and tied his best in the long jump (20-0.25).
The men's provisional qualifier for Division II nationals is 6,202 points.
UAA's Cody Thomas, who Friday was named the Seawolves' Bill MacKay Athlete of the Year and last season finished seventh at the Division II outdoor championships, is red-shirting this season. Friess said that will enable the Kiwi to compete both indoors and outdoors next season as a senior.
The rest of the GNAC Championships are set for May 8-9 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr