Comfort has not been common of late for UAA's indoor track program. First, it was targeted for elimination because of pending budget cuts, though it eventually escaped the axe. Then, The Dome collapsed in January, robbing the Seawolves of their principal training venue.
In the wake of those distractions and disruptions, all the Seawolves did was succeed.
UAA racked 11 All-America finishes Saturday at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, to capture a school-record 12 All-America honors, the most the program has pocketed in a national meet, indoors or outdoors.
"These guys didn't do anything but put their heads down and work hard,'' long-time UAA coach Michael Friess said by cellphone. "This team has gone through so much adversity that what they did this season is tops in my book.''
After the collapse of The Dome, the Seawolves were relegated to training outdoors, on treadmills, on the narrow running track at the Alaska Airlines Center on campus and even on the basketball courts at that arena.
In those circumstances, said senior sprinter Jamie Ashcroft, the Seawolves' unity kept them focused on competing to the best of their ability.
"We all came together and supported each other and put our best foot forward,'' Ashcroft said. "It's stressful, of course, but being supportive of each other makes it less stressful.''
Ashcroft, junior distance runner Caroline Kurgat and senior distance runner Dominik Notz spearheaded UAA's charge Saturday, when the Seawolves earned All-America honors in all five events in which they competed.
Ashcroft began the day with her seventh-place finish in the 200 meters to earn her second career All-America and the first indoor All-America by a sprinter in program history.
Next came Kurgat, who smartly settled herself in sixth or seventh place in the 18-runner field in the 3,000. She made a strong move approaching the last 400 meters on the 200-meter track at the Birmingham CrossPlex and passed three runners in the final 400. Kurgat's last 400, run in 1:08.90, was the third-fastest in the field and she finished in a personal-best 9:27.09, four seconds faster than her previous standard, to seize her fourth career track All-America.
"Obviously, once you lay your cards down, you gotta go,'' Friess said. "She's had a hard time in the past with that, but she ran so smart today and had the emotional resources to do it.
"Today, I feel like it was her best college race.''
Notz, warming up for his 3,000 race, which immediately followed Kurgat's, said he was inspired by her.
"That was so amazing,'' Notz said. "That definitely got me motivated.''
Notz, coming off an All-America fifth-place finish in Thursday's 5,000 meters, again showed his racing smarts. In the 5,000, he found himself caught mid-race in no-man's land, and purposely slowed to let a pack catch him. That allowed him to preserve energy and unleash a strong kick. Saturday, Notz went out hard — he covered the opening 400 in 62 seconds — but didn't try to match the blistering pace of the leaders.
He clocked 8:07.28, which not only improved on his previous school-record by nearly three seconds but also broke his own Great Northwest Athletic Conference record.
"That was a really hard race,'' Notz said. "From the gun, it was crazy fast.''
Notz has won seven All-America awards, five in track and two in cross country.
Just 55 minutes after the All-America performance in the 200, Ashcroft ran the lead-off leg in the women's 4×400-meter relay. She teamed with senior Mary-Kathleen Cross, senior Hayley Bezanson and freshman Vanessa Aniteye to place seventh, four spots higher than the team's seeding, in a school-record 3:45.10 that marked the Seawolves women's first All-America in the event.
UAA's men's 4×400 team — sophomore Nicholas Taylor, junior Liam Lindsay, junior Darion Gray and senior Adam Commandeur — followed with an All-America seventh-place finish in 3:13.69 after being seeded 10th. The All-America honors were the first for all four relay members.
The Seawolves' program-record 12 All-America honors were one more than the previous mark, set at the 2016 indoor nationals.
"It was a fun day for the Seawolves,'' Friess said.