Thursday, September 6, 2012

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Alaska Anchorage senior Micah Chelimo earned his sixth career victory last Saturday winning the Hawaii Pacific Invitational in a 5,000-meter time of 15:33.

Chelimo, who is the defending GNAC and regional champion, won four events last year and one in  2009.  Chelimo ranks third on the GNAC men’s career win list trailing only John Riak of Saint Martin’s who had 15 wins between 2005 and 2008 and Marko Cheseto of Alaska Anchorage, who had 11 wins between 2008 and 2010. 

Chelimo led the Seawolves to a perfect team score of 15 as UAA easily won the team title,  placing eight runners in the top nine.  The lone non-Seawolf in the top nine was competing unattached.

Also earning a team win last weekend was Saint Martin’s which outpointed Puget Sound 28-33 to win the men’s division of the University of Puget Sound Invitational.

On the women’s side,  Susan Tanui of Alaska Anchorage, Robyn Zeidler of Seattle Pacific and Erika Copeland of Saint Martin’s each earned their first career victories. 

Copeland won the Puget Sound Invitational in a time of 25:11 to join Tanui and Zeidler who won the Hawaii Pacific Invitational and Alaska Fairbanks Long-Course events in times of 18:06 and 22:56.9, respectively, as first-week winners. 

Both Tanui and Zeidler also led their teams to victories.  SPU won two events, sweeping both Thursday’s long-course event and Saturday’s short-course event. 

Four events are on this week’s schedule.  On Friday, Central Washington will entertain Western Washington at the CWU Invitational.  On Saturday, Northwest Nazarene will compete in the Roger Curran Invitational in Nampa.

Also on Saturday, Alaska Fairbanks will host the Alaska Nanooks Ester Dome meet.  Montana State Billings will race at the Carroll College Invitational and Alaska Anchorage stays in Hawaii for the Hawaii Big Wave Invitational.

Alaska Anchorage Ranked Sixth, Eighth

Alaska Anchorage is ranked sixth and eighth, respectively, in the pre-season USTFCCCA cross country national polls.

Also ranked in the men's poll are Western Washington (10th) and Western Oregon (15th).  In the women's poll, Simon Fraser is ninth, Western Washington is 13th and Seattle Pacific is 30th.

LAST WEEK’S RECAPS

Alaska Nanooks West Ridge Invitational (Aug. 30 at Fairbanks): Men’s Team Scores – Black Hills State 26, Seattle Pacific 42, Alaska Fairbanks 67.  Individuals (8,000 Meters) – 1. Mitch Kraft, BHSU, 26:11.5; 2. Jordan Wolfe, SPU, 26:34.4; 3. A.J. Baker, SPU, 26:48.0; 5. Seth Pierson, SPU, 27:15.2; 10. Ross MacDougal, UAF, 27:33..5.  Women’s Team Scores – Seattle Pacific 26, Alaska Fairbanks 37, Black Hills State 60.  Individuals (6,000 Meters) – 1. Robyn Zeidler, SPU, 22:56.9; 2. Katie Thralls, SPU, 23:16.9; 3. Katie Morris, SPU, 23:21.4; 4. Alyson McPhetres, UAF, 23:23.9; 6. Raphaela Sieber, UAF, 24:02.8; 7. Julia Ebner, UAF, 24:09.5; 8. Heather Edic, UAF, 24:53.1; 9. Jasmine Johnson, SPU, 24:58.5.

Puget Sound Invitational (Sept. 1 at Fort Steilacoom): Men’s Team Scores – Saint Martin’s 28, Puget Sound 33, Olympic 69.  Individuals (8,000  Meters) – 1. Matt Klein, UPS, 26:45; 2. Joseph Patti, SMU, 27:03; 3. Joe Berger, SMU, 27:02.7; 4. Frank Krause, SMU, 27:17; 6. Josiah Shelman, SMU, 27:56.    Women’s Team Scores – Puget Sound 26, Saint Martin’s 29.  Individuals (6,000 Meters) – 1. Erika Copeland, SMU, 25:11; 5. Ashley Llapitan, SMU, 26:08; 6. Jennifer Hickey, SMU, 26:14; 8. Beatriz Ramirez, SMU, 26:58; 9. Justine Malek, SMU, 26:59.

Alaska Nanooks Short Course (Sept. 1 at West Ridge, Fairbanks): Men’s Team Scores – Black Hills 36. Seattle Pacific 41, Alaska Fairbanks 52. Individuals (4,000 Meters) – 1. Mitch Kraft, Black Hills, 12:44.3; 2. A.J. Baker, SPU, 12:50.3; 3. Michael Fehrenbach, UAF, 12:56.5; 4. Tavis Taylor, SPU, 13:00.7; 5. Tyler Kornfield, UAF, 13:03.0; 7. Jordan Wolfe, SPU, 13:07.6; 9. Seth Pierson, SPU, 13:11.3. Women’s Team Scores -  Seattle Pacific 21, Black Hills 46, Alaska Fairbanks 61. Individuals (4,000 Meters) – 1. Erin Curran, Black Hills, 15:11.7; 2. Robyn Zeidler, SPU, 15:18.8; 3. Katie Thralls, SPU, 15:29.1; 4. Katie Morris, SPU, 15:32.4; 5, Jasmine Johnson, SPU, 16:09.1; 7. Lynelle Decker, SPU, 16:26.1; 8. Marit Rjabov, UAF, 16:26.9; 9. Heidi O’Connor-Brook, UAF, 16:41.7; 10. Josie Becker, SPU, 16:46.0.

Pier Park Invitational (Sept. 1 at Portland):  Men’s Team Scores – None.  Individuals (6,000 Meters) – 1. Cole Watson, Oregon 17:52.69; 15. Connor Kasler, WOU, 18:51.28; 20. David Smith, WOU, 19:10.91; 23. Drew Larson, WOU, 19:19.31; 26. Scott Larson, WOU, 19:25.53; 27. Brady Beagley, WOU, 19:25.84.

Hawaii Pacific Invitational (Sept. 1 at Honolulu): Men’s Team Scores – Alaska Anchorage 15, BYU-Hawaii 56, Hawaii Pacific 81, Chaminade 107. Individuals (5,000 Meters) – 1. Micah Chelimo, UAA, 15:33; 2. Dylan Anthony, UAA, 15:42; 3. Alfred Kangogo, UAA, 15:55; 5. Isaac Kangogo, UAA, 16:01; 6.  Kevin Rooke, UAA, 16:01; 7. Jake Parisien, UAA, 16:15; 8. Andrey Ionashku, UAA, 16:21; 9. Dominik Notz, UAA, 16:29. Women’s Team Scores – Alaska Anchorage 19, Hawaii Pacific 62, BYU-Hawaii 67, Hawaii-Manoa 110, Chaminade 130.  Individuals (5,000 Meters) – 1. Susan Tanui, UAA, 18:06; 3. Ivy O’Guinn, UAA, 18:40; 4. Miriam Kipng’eno, UAA, 18:40; 5. Katie Krehlik, UAA, 18:45; 6. Sarah Freistone, UAA, 18:52; 8. Jaymi Bethea, UAA, 19:06; 9. Bryn Haebe, UAA, 19:25; 10. Christi Schmitz, UAA, 19:28.

GNAC Players-of-the-Week Recap