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By the time the baton got to wonder-woman Caroline Kurgat, victory was all but ensured for the UAA distance medley relay team this weekend at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor track and field meet in Nampa, Idaho.
“Then we were racing to see how fast we could run,” UAA coach Michael Friess said. “Turns out pretty fast.”
Not only did the team of Ruth Cvancara, Vanessa Aniteye, Dani McCormick and Kurgat set a GNAC Championships record with their time of 11 minutes, 23.47 seconds, they recorded the sixth-fastest time in NCAA Division II history, according to Friess.
Cvancara delivered a solid opening 1,200-meter leg, Aniteye built a gap with her 400-meter leg, McCormick widened the lead with her 800-meter leg -- the distance she won a national title in last season -- and then Kurgat was off to the races for the final 1,600-meter leg.
Kurgat, the senior from Kenya who earlier this season set NCAA Division II national records in the 5,000 and 3,000, added two individual titles to her growing resume with Saturday wins in the 3,000 meters and mile run.
Wesley Kirui and Nancy Jeptoo supplied the Seawolves with a sweep of the 5,000-meter titles, giving UAA four individual titles plus a victory in the medley relay.
The men finished second in the team standings behind Western Washington, and the women were third behind Seattle Pacific and Central Washington. Kurgat was named the female track athlete of the meet, and she and her teammates on the medley relay team -- Ruth Cvancara, Vanessa Aniteye and Dani McCormick – earned the award for best performance of the meet.
“It was nice to see the athletes step up and perform at a high level,” Friess said.
Among the many highlights for UAA:
-- Kirui led a 1-2-3-4-5 finish by the UAA men in Friday’s 5,000 meters – an event UAA has won seven years in a row. Kirui won in 14:55.66, two seconds ahead of defending champion Felix Kemboi. Following them were Edwin Kangogo (15:07.57), Jorge Sanchez (15:10.99) and Nickson Koech (15:11.48).
-- Jeptoo won the women’s 5,000 in 17:48.46 to become the fifth UAA woman in seven years to win the race.
-- Kurgat led a 1-3 UAA finish in the 3,000 and a 1-5 finish in the mile. In the mile, her time of 4:47.86 set a GNAC Championship and UAA record; McCormick placed fifth in 5:11.3. In the 3,000, Kurgat won in 9:54.4 – well off her national-record 9:07.05 recorded in January – and Jeptoo was third in 10:06.11.
-- Chrisalyn Johnson, a star on the volleyball team and a rookie on the track team, placed second in the triple jump and third in the high jump. A former track standout at Dimond High, she finished less than an inch away from victory in the triple jump with a leap of 39 feet, 3 inches, breaking the old school record by 15 inches.
“Boy, she has an incredible amount of potential,” Friess said. “Very athletic."
-- Brandon Nicholson and Chris Brake each provided top-four finishes in the triple jump and high jump. Nicholson jumped a school-record 48-0.5 to place second in the triple jump and added a fourth-place finish in the high jump, while Brake placed third in both events.
Other top efforts included a runnerup finish in the men’s mile from Drew Johnson, a freshman who was less than one second off the victory; third-place finishes from Enrique Campbell in the 60 meters and Aniteye in the 400 meters; and fourth-place finishes from David Sramek in the heptathlon, where his pole vault mark of 15-3 was a school record, and from the women’s 1,600-meter relay team of Aniteye, Cvancara, Elena Cano and Marie Ries.
The Seawolves have one more meet before the March 8-9 national championships.