Tuesday, January 29, 2019

NEW ORLEANS – Two Division II all-time bests, two GNAC Athlete of the Week awards and now two national weekly awards in as many meets for Alaska Anchorage’s Caroline Kurgat.

The super-fast senior was recognized as the U.S. Track and Field & Cross Country Association’s (USTFCCCA) Division II Women’s Athlete of the Week for the second time this season after she established the Division II all-time best in the indoor 5,000 meters at Saturday’s UW Invitational in Seattle.

Kurgat won the race in a time of 15:48.46, a time that will go down as an all-conditions best with the race run on the Dempsey Indoor Center’s oversized track. The time was 33 seconds faster than the official Division II record of 16:01.09 run by Neely Spence of Shippensburg in 2011 and better than the previous all-conditions best of 16:01.53 run by Kendra Foley of Grand Valley State in 2016.

In addition, the mark is the 20th fastest indoor 5,000 meters ever run by a women’s collegian and is faster than the all-time Division II outdoor best in the event of 15:33.83, run by Spence in 2011.

This season, Kurgat’s time is the eighth fastest at all college levels and ranks No. 12 in the world.

The performance also gave Kurgat the GNAC and Alaska Anchorage records in the event for the first time. The previous record was a 16:10.32 set by Joyce Chelimo in 2016.

Just two weeks ago, Kurgat established the Division II all-time all-conditions best in the 3,000 meters at the UW Husky Preview. Her time of 9:07.05 was two seconds better than the 9:09.50 run by Amy Harper of Cal Poly in 1983.

An automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division II Championships in both the 3,000 meters and 5,00 meters, Kurgat has the fastest time in the 5,000 meters in Division II by 55 seconds and in the 3,000 meters by 16 seconds.