Sports

Seawolves sweep GNAC track titles for 2nd straight year

For the second year in a row, the UAA track and field team swept the team titles at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor championships.

And for the second day in a row, the Seawolves produced four individual conference champions.

Joyce Chelimo claimed titles in the women's 3,000 meters and mile, Dominik Notz won the men's 3,000 and Jamie Ashcroft sprinted to the 60-meter title during Saturday's competition in Nampa, Idaho.

UAA's Karolin Anders was named the Women's Outstanding Athlete of the Meet for her considerable contributions to the UAA sweep.

Anders, a senior from Berlin, Germany, won the pentathlon and long jump and placed fourth in the high jump on Friday and placed third in the triple jump Saturday.

She scored 31 of the 164 points that carried the UAA women to 28-point win over Seattle Pacific. The performance capped a glorious four-year indoor career for Anders, who has totaled 112 career points at the indoor championships — a GNAC record.

Chelimo contributed 30 points to the women's point total by winning three races. Besides her two victories Saturday, she won Friday's 5,000 meters.

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Caroline Kurgat gave the UAA women depth in the distance events with second-place finishes in the 3,000 and 5,000 and third place in the mile.

Notz finished the meet as a double-winner with wins in the 3,000 and 5,000.

Ashcroft's 60-meter win marked her third straight GNAC title in that event. She added a second-place finish in the 200 meters.

UAA's Rosie Smith nearly delivered a championship in the 60-meter hurdles. The top three finishers in the race were separated by four-thousandths of a second, and after a 10-minute delay to review the finish photo, Smith was awarded second place with a time of 8.714 seconds. Victory went to Central Washington's Mariyah Vongsaveng in 8.713.

The UAA men also scored 164 points, easily topping Western Oregon (93) and Western Washington (92).

Nearly half of UAA's points — 80 — came from distance runners.

After leading a 1-2-3-4-5 finish in the 5,000 on Friday, Notz led a 1-2-4-5 finish in the 3,000 Saturday. He was followed across the line by teammates Henry Cheseto, Edwin Kangogo and Michel Ramirez.

Ramirez led a 3-5-7 finish for the Seawolves in the mile.

Other top individual finishes for the Seawolves came from Travis Turner (second place in men's heptathlon), Cody Thomas (third in men's 60 meters, third in 200 meters) and Tamara Perez (third in women's 800).

In addition to their eight individual championships, the Seawolves added a GNAC title in the men's 1,600-meter relay.

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