UAA women put on a show at GNAC cross country championships

One streak ended but another continued in decisive fashion for the Seawolves at Saturday's conference cross country championships in Bellingham, Washington.

Caroline Kurgat, a senior All-America runner from Eldoret, Kenya, won her second straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference individual title to lead the UAA women to their third straight team title.

But for the men's team, two winning streaks ended. For the first time since 2007 a UAA runner didn't win the men's race, and for the first time since 2009 the Seawolves didn't win the team title.

Instead, the Seawolves finished second in both categories. Defending champion Edwin Kangogo and freshman Felix Kemboi placed 2-3 to lead UAA to a runnerup finish behind the new champs from Western Oregon.

Kurgat crushed the competition in the women's 6-kilometer race on a windy day at Lake Padden Park.

Competing for just the third time this season, she finished nearly a minute ahead of everyone else with a time of 20 minutes, 49.42 seconds.

The meet was expected to feature a duel between two nationally ranked teams – No. 5 Simon Fraser and No. 7 UAA – but the Seawolves turned it into a rout.

They placed five women in the top 10 and seven in the top 15 to run away with the team title with 28 points, well ahead of second-place Simon Fraser's 65.

"It feels really good. We've been really working hard for this and we did it as a team," Kurgat said in the GNAC's race report. "The conditions were a bit rough, but I felt good about my fitness and I feel like I was right where I need to be."

Kurgat's victory marked the sixth time in seven years a UAA woman won the race.

Four others claimed spots in the top 10 to help UAA win its eighth women's team title in nine years — junior Zennah Jepchumba of Eldoret (4th, 21:53), junior Danielle McCormick of Soldotna (5th, 22:06), sophomore Emmah Chelimo of Iten, Kenya (8th, 22:11.26) and junior Kimberly Coscia of Torrance, California (10th, 22:12).

Senior Mariah Burroughs of Wasilla finished 12th (22:17) and senior Tamara Perez of Hendaye, France, was 15th (22:17).

In the men's race, Kangogo was seeking to repeat as the GNAC champ and extend UAA's streak of individual champs to 10.

But he couldn't keep pace with Western Oregon senior David Ribich, who won the 8K in 24:54.82 to become the first non-UAA winner since 2007.

Kangogo, a senior from Eldoret, followed in 25:03.63 and Kemboi, a freshman from Eldoret, was third in 25:18.0.

Nathan Kipchumba, another Eldoret runner, gave UAA three men in the top 15 by placing 12th in 25:51. The Seawolves finished with 64 points to trail Western Oregon by 13.

UAA returns to action in two weeks for the NCAA West Region championships in Monmouth, Oregon, where spots in the national championships will be up for grabs.