Anchorage Daily News

David Registe's dreams of soaring to a second straight Division II national title in the men's long jump were dashed Thursday by an underdog.

The UAA junior leaped a career-best 25 feet, 1112 inches at the NCAA Division II track and field championships in San Angelo, Texas.

Unfortunately for Registe, his best wasn't good enough to hold off an Indiana University of Pennsylvania junior who eclipsed his personal best by nearly two feet with a leap of 26-134 to upset the defending D-II national champion.

Nafee Harris came into the national meet ranked seventh among D-II long jumpers. He qualified with a provisional qualification mark of 24-334 set in late March.

Registe, of Palmer, had the lead going into the final round until Harris shocked the LeGrand Sports Complex at Angelo State University and soared to the winning mark on his last attempt.

"What are you going to do?" UAA jumping coach Rafael Echavarria said by cell phone. "We would have loved to repeat. But we knew it was going to be a tough day."

When the men's long jump began, the mercury reached 87 degrees.

Registe leaped 25-1112 on the third jump of the preliminaries. But as the event progressed, the heat radiating off the track started to punish Registe's calf muscles.

"We tried to hydrate as much as we could," Echavarria said. "But in the last three jumps, David started to cramp up."

Registe injured a hamstring earlier this season on his take-off leg. But the cramps, Registe said, had nothing to do with his hamstring.

"The only good thing that came out of this meet is knowing my hamstring is back to normal," he said.

The pain, however, became so rough that Registe wasn't sure if he could even jump on his final two jumps. But nothing could stop Registe from trying to top his personal best, Echavarria said.

"He went for it," Echavarria said. "He shortened his step on his final jump and literally fell forward. You've got to give him credit for trying."

Despite the personal best, finishing second wasn't good enough for the former two-time state champion for Colony High.

"I'm not at all pleased," he said. "I didn't get my goal. But you can't win 'em all."

Echavarria had a different perspective on the All American.

"As coaches, we're impressed," he said. "It was a good day, even if he's not happy."

Seawolves sophomore and Service graduate Demietrius Preston (22-08) finished 13th in the men's long jump.

In the running events, two out of three Seawolves qualified for Saturday's finals.

Kiplagat, a senior from Kenya making his fourth appearance at nationals, qualified for the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase. He clocked 9 minutes, 16.86 seconds -- nearly 15 seconds slower than his qualifying time.

Ward, a sophomore from Chugiak making his national meet debut, advanced in the 400 hurdles after clocking 52.45 to break his own school and Great Northwest Athletic Conference records.

"That was one heck of a performance," UAA track coach Michael Friess said.

Freshman Alfred Kangogo missed the cut for the 1,500-meter finals.

Marko Cheseto of Kenya earned All-America status with a seventh-place finish (30:20.28) in the men's 10,000 meters, despite straining an arch in his foot. The sophomore will try to race today's 5,000 meters.

"Everyone performed at their best and that's all you can ask," Friess said.

Find Kevin Klott online at adn.com/contact/kklott or call 257-4335.

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