UAA seniors Joyce Chelimo and Dominik Notz have been rewarded with honors after setting Great Northwest Athletic Conference records in the 3,000 meters last weekend at the Husky Classic in Seattle.
Chelimo clocked 9 minutes, 17.97 seconds to destroy the previous conference record (9:23.24, Seattle Pacific's Jessica Pixler, 2009) and posted the fastest women's indoor time among NCAA Division II athletes this season. That effort not only bagged her the GNAC women's track athlete of the week honor, but also earned her the Division II national weekly honor from the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association. Chelimo's mark was more than six seconds faster than the automatic qualifying standard for the NCAA Division II indoor nationals.
Chelimo also owns an automatic qualifier to nationals in the 5,000 meters, and over the weekend helped UAA provisionally qualify for nationals in the distance medley.
Notz's time of 8:10.19 topped the previous conference mark (8:10.99, UAA's Micah Chelimo, 2014) by nearly a second and earned him the GNAC men's track athlete of the week honor. His time ranks 11th in Division II this season and provisionally qualifies him for the national meet.
Notz also has provisionally qualified for nationals in the 5,000.
Division II indoor nationals are set for March 11-12 in Pittsburg, Kansas.
Overall, UAA women have at least provisionally qualified for nationals in 10 events. Senior Karolin Anders has qualified in high jump, long jump and pentathlon.
UAA men have qualified, at least provisionally, for nationals in seven events. Senior Cody Thomas has qualified in the heptathlon and high jump, and as a member of the 4x400-meter team and distance medley team.
UAA Qualifiers for NCAA D-II Indoor Track and Field Championships
Provisional qualifiers unless otherwise denoted
Women
100 meters — Jamie Ashcroft. 200 — Jamie Ashcroft. 800 — Jessica Pahkala. 3,000 — Joyce Chelimo (automatic qualifier), Caroline Kurgat. 5,000 — Joyce Chelimo (automatic qualifier), Caroline Kurgat. 60 hurdles ?— Rosie Smith. Distance medley — Jessica Pahkala, Mary Kathleen Cross, Tamara Perez, Joyce Chelimo. High jump — Karolin Anders. Long jump — Karolin Anders. Pentathlon — Karolin Anders, Rosie Smith.
Men
800 — Nathan Kipchumba. 3,000 — Dominik Notz, Henry Cheseto, Michel Ramirez, Edwin Kangogo. 5,000 — Henry Cheseto, Dominik Notz, Michel Ramirez. 4x400 relay ?— Nicholas Taylor, Liam Lindsay, Adam Commandeur, Cody Thomas. Distance medley — Philip Messina, Cody Thomas, Nathan Kipchumba, Michael Mendenhall. High jump — Cody Thomas. Heptathlon -- Cody Thomas.