The Great Northwest Athletic Conference's Outdoor Championships this week in Oregon furnish UAA's track and field crews opportunity on multiple fronts.
For the Seawolves women, the meet at Western Oregon University in Monmouth on Friday and Saturday represents their shot at a third consecutive conference championship.
Meanwhile, the Seawolves men, runners-up a year ago, seek the first conference championship in their history.
And for all the Seawolves, the meet affords one last chance to deliver a qualifying mark, or improve on one previously generated, that will gain them entry in the NCAA Division II nationals later this month in Michigan. More than 20 UAA athletes already have produced marks that, at minimum, provisionally qualify them for nationals.
UAA's women's team last year repeated as conference champions in a three-way fight that unfolded like a race in which multiple athletes lean at the finishing line and victory comes by a slim margin. The Seawolves earned 137 points, edging runners-up Northwest Nazarene and Western Washington, which each scored 133 points, and also held off fourth place Seattle Pacific (121 points).
The Seawolves enter Thursday already in possession of 23 team points. Those came courtesy last week of heptathletes Karolin Anders, Haleigh Lloyd and Rosie Smith, who finished 1-2-4 at the GNAC Multi Championships.
Anders defended her title and posted a score that automatically qualified her for nationals. Lloyd and Smith have provisionally qualified for nationals. All three athletes also compete in open events.
UAA's men start this week's meet with six points, which Travis Turner delivered with his third-place finish in the decathlon at the Multi Championships.
The Seawolves have many defending conference champs back in action. On the men's side, UAA's defending champions at Scott Commandeur (800 meters), Dylan Anthony (5,000), Victor Samoei (10,000), Elliott Bauer (400 hurdles) and Franz Burghagen (javelin). Besides Anders, who already defended her title, UAA's women feature defending champs in Jamie Ashcroft (100, 200) and Joyce Kipchumba (10,000).
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr