UAA Athletics

UAA runners bring home women's title from WWU Classic

Led by Caroline Kurgat's second-place finish, the UAA women captured the team title at Saturday's Western Washington University Classic in Bellingham.

The UAA men placed second in the team standings behind a 4-5 finish from Michel Ramirez and Edwin Kangogo.

The 43rd annual meet featured a big field that included eight of the 11 teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Individual victories went to Joanna Williams of Trinity Western, who finished the 6-kilometer race at Lake Padden Park in 21 minutes, 24.9 seconds. Kurgat was close behind in 21:26.1.

Five Seawolves cracked the women's top 30, including Joyce Chelimo, an All-American who placed 10th in 22:05.7 in her first race of the season. Zennah Jepchumba was 19th in 22:33.2, Tamara Perez was 22nd in 22:41.4 and Mariah Burroughs was 30th in 22:55.1.

UAA finished with 76 points for a five-point margin over two-time defending champion Trinity Western.

In the men's competition, Trinity Western beat UAA 37-53 for the team title. The 10K individual win went to Western Washington's Isaac Derline in 31:13.2.

Ramirez clocked 31:36.6 and Kangogo 31:40.8. UAA's Henry Cheseto placed 11th in 31:56.5, Michael Mendenhall was 16th in 32:15.3 and Victor Samoei was 21st in 32:27.3.

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