UAA senior Joyce Chelimo has been breaking records since she was a freshman and she's not slowing down.
The native of Kapsowar, Kenya, broke the Great Northwest Athletic Conference record with the fifth-fastest NCAA Division II time ever in the women's 10,000 meters Friday at the Stanford Invitational.
Chelimo crossed the finish line at 33 minutes, 14.41 seconds — good enough for automatic qualification to the NCAA championships in May. The previous record was 33:17.39 held by Western Washington's Sarah Porter since 2011.
Six other Seawolves also earned automatic or provisional qualification to the NCAAs on Friday. Caroline Kurgat qualified in the 10-K with a time of 33:38.30 — the second-fastest time in Division II this season behind Chelimo.
The other automatic qualifiers were Henry Cheseto in the men's 10-K (29:36) at Stanford. Cody Parker qualified in the javelin (234 feet, 7 inches) at the Texas Relays in Austin.
UAA's provisional qualifiers were Nathan Kipchumba, who broke his own program record in the 800 meters (1:49.67), Tamara Peres in the women's 800 (2:11.01), Edwin Kangogo in the 10-K (29:46.48) and Joe Day in the 800 (1:51.42). All the provisional qualifying times took place at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival in San Francisco.
The Seawolves will conclude the weekend with the second day of the SFSU Distance Carnival on Saturday.