Sports

5 All-Americans help Seawolves to big day at cross-country championships

The Seawolves ran into the record book Saturday at the NCAA Division II cross-country championships.

For the first time in school history UAA landed four runners in the top 10 – two men, two women – and sophomore Henry Cheseto grabbed third place to propel the men's team to third place, matching the school's best team result at the national championships.

Joining Cheseto in the top 10 at the meet in Joplin, Missouri, were sophomore Caroline Kurgat and junior Joyce Chelimo, who placed sixth and seventh in the women's race, and senior Dominik Notz, who placed eighth in the men's race.

"It was the first time we had two runners in the top 10. And we did it today on the men's and women's side," UAA coach Michael Friess said by text.

Sophomore Edwin Kangogo finished 30th to give the Seawolves five All-Americans, a status bestowed on the top 40 runners in each race.

With five All-America results Saturday, UAA now boasts 34 in the history of the program. And the latest individual results are some of the best ever for the Seawolves.

The finishes by Cheseto and Notz are the second- and third-best all time, trailing only the national championship won by Micah Chelimo in 2012.

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The only woman to do better than Kurgat and Chelimo at the national championships is Susan Tanui, the runner-up at the 2012 championships. Ruth Keino placed seventh in 2010 and ninth in 2011.

The men totaled 138 points to trail champion Colorado School of Mines (100 points) and Adams State (127) in the team standings.

Claiming the men's individual championship was Alfred Chelanga of Georgia's Shorter University. He finished the 10-kilometer race in 29 minutes, 24.6 seconds.

Cheseto finished in 29:35, Notz in 29:59 and Kangogo in 30:45. Other finishers for the Seawolves were Michael Mendenhall (68th in 30:59), Victor Samoei (74th in 31:04), Nathan Kipchumba (109th in 31:33) and Jesse Miller (208th in 32:53).

"The boys went after the title but came up short," Friess said. "They ran well overall and it's always nice to be able to add to the NCAA trophy case."

The third-place trophy is the second for the Seawolves, who matched the third-place finish by the 2012 men's team.

The women finished eighth in the team standings. That's not the best in school history – from 2009-13 the women placed sixth or higher at five straight national meets – but it's an important result all the same.

Because UAA cracked the top eight, the West Region will expand its number of national-meet qualifiers from five to six teams next season.

"Being among the elite eight is a big deal, and the rest of the West Region should be happy with an additional national qualifier," Friess said.

Adams State won the women's crown with 83 points. UAA totaled 317 and was 10 points out of sixth place.

Alexis Zeis of the University of Mary won the women's 6-K race by three-tenths of a second in 20:03.4. Kurgat clocked 20:14.40 and Chelimo 20:17.10.

Other UAA finishers included Kimberly Coscia (75th in 22:00.4), Jessica Pahkala (92nd in 22:10.4), Beatrice Decker (195th in 23:13.2), Kaitlyn Maker (202nd in 23:19.1) and Tamara Perez (206th in 23:23.5).

"We have most coming back," Friess said of the UAA squads, "so the future remains bright."

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