Less than a year after having a baby, UAA's Joyce Chelimo captured the women's victory at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference cross-country championships Saturday in Bellingham, Washington.
Combined with Henry Cheseto's win in the men's race, Chelimo helped the Seawolves add to their long list of individual conference champions. Since 2006, 13 UAA runners have claimed GNAC titles. The men have won eight in a row, with Cheseto becoming the third man to repeat as champion.
The Seawolves also added to their bounty of conference team championships, taking their sixth straight men's title and their sixth women's title in seven years.
"It never gets old, that's for sure," UAA coach Michael Friess said.
Chelimo's victory came six weeks before her son's first birthday. Chelimo and her husband, four-time national champion Micah Chelimo, welcomed their first child, Ethan, on Dec. 4 of last year.
The happy occasion prompted Joyce to skip the cross country and track seasons last school year, making this her comeback season. And what a comeback.
"She's running faster than she's ever run," Friess said. "We feel good about that. She took some time off after the baby was born and started to train again toward the latter part of the spring. She had a big summer and now is continuing along."
Chelimo, a junior from Kenya, posted her fastest 6,000-meter time of the season – 21:00.9 – and was 19 seconds faster than she was two weeks ago on the same course.
"I feel so much stronger this time than I did two years ago," Chelimo said in a post-race report from the GNAC. "I have good teammates and good coaching, so today was all good."
Two years ago at her first GNAC championship meet, when her name was Joyce Kipchumba, she placed fourth and was named the conference's newcomer of the year.
This year, the UAA women collected the award for Freshman of the Year. Kimberly Cosica, a freshman from Torrance, California, placed ninth to give the Seawolves three runners in the top 10.
Caroline Kurgat, a sophomore from Kenya, finished second, trailing Chelimo by about seven seconds in 21:07.8. Cosica clocked 22:16.3.
Also finishing in the top 15 were Zennah Jepchumba, who placed 12th in 22:39.1 in her first race of the season, and Beatrice Decker, 15th in 22:42.3.
Together those five scored 39 points to help the Seawolves beat runner-up Western Washington by more than 30 points.
In the men's race, Cheseto won his second straight individual title to lead five UAA runners in the top 10, a showing the included second place for Dominik Notz and third place for Edwin Kangogo.
Cheseto extended UAA's streak of individual men's champions to eight straight and nine in 10 years. Cheseto's brother Marko won three in a row from 2008-10 and Joyce's husband Micah won two straight in 2011-12.
Cheseto pulled away from Notz in the final 500 meters of the 8,000-meter race to beat his teammate by 4.6 seconds. Cheseto, a sophomore from Kenya, won in 24:22.7. Notz clocked 24:27.3.
"We just kept the pace," Cheseto said in the GNAC report, "and it helped to be with my team. That's what helped me because when I am running with people I have a sense of competition. I see a sense of unity in my group and a sense of teamwork."
Unity in this case meant a lot of green-and-gold in the top 10, which allowed UAA to easily claim the team title with 21 points. Edwin Kangogo took third place (24:44.1), Victor Samoei placed sixth (25:19.6) and Nathan Kipchumba was ninth (25:29.3).
UAA's depth extended to its No. 6 runner, Michael Mendenhall, who placed 17th in 25:53.3.
"Having him be a really, really solid sixth runner for us gives you an insurance policy," Friess said.
That could make a difference the next time the Seawolves race, at the NCAA Division II West Region championships Nov. 7 in Monmouth, Oregon, where berths in the national championships will be at stake.
Dominating the GNAC
Since 2006, UAA has produced 13 individual winners at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference cross-country championships.
Men
2006 – David Kiplagat
2008 – Marko Cheseto
2009 – Marko Cheseto
2010 – Marko Cheseto
2011 – Micah Chelimo
2012 – Micah Chelimo
2013 – Isaac Kangogo
2014 – Henry Cheseto
2015 – Henry Cheseto
Women
2011 – Ruth Keino
2012 – Susan Tanui
2013 – Susan Tanui
2015 – Joyce Chelimo