ELLENSBURG, Wash. ? A pair of Alaska Anchorage track & field athletes repeated as conference champions and another earned her first-career title on the opening day of the 2007 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships Friday evening here at Tomlinson Stadium.
Sophomore's David Registe (Palmer) and Kim Brady (Odessa, Texas) swept the men's and women's long jump titles for the second consecutive year, while junior Elizabeth Chepkosgei (Kapsabet Kenya) registered her first GNAC title by running to a victory in the women's 3000.
In addition to the three individual conference titles, the Seawolves broke three more school records lifting their season tally to 41.
Registe sprung a winning leap of 25-8 ? in the men's long jump, breaking his own meet record set last year of 23-3 ?. The former Palmer High standout, who won the event by over two feet, collected his second conference title and fourth all-conference accolade with the win.
The first Seawolf men's track athlete to earn back-to-back league titles in the same event, Registe also recorded the fastest 200 (21.92) and second-best 100 (10.90) times during Friday's preliminaries. He currently stands second in the nation (Division II) in the long jump with a school-record mark of 24-10 ?.
Brady successfully defended her title in the women's long jump by recording a winning mark of 18-3, while becoming the second UAA women's athlete to earn consecutive titles in the same event (Mary Pearce, 400 meters, 2006 and 2007). Brady, who collected her third-career all-conference honor, comfortably won the event by jumping 7 ? inches further than her nearest competitor.
Chepkosgei became the fourth UAA women's distance runner all-time to claim a conference title by running to a winning and school-record breaking effort of 9:59.16 in the 3000 meters. The Kenyan shaved seven seconds off her previous best performance while becoming just the sixth runner in GNAC history to compete the race under 10 minutes.
Senior Davya Flaharty (Fairbanks) wrapped up her UAA career by placing third in the women's 10,000 (39:34.23), while earning all-conference accolades for the second time. Flaharty won the title in the same event at the 2006 league championships.
In other event finals junior Cornelious Sigei (Nairobi, Kenya) placed seventh (32:37.27) and junior Auston Ellis (Valdez) finished eighth (32:47.72) in the men's 10,000, while senior Scott Karnitz claimed eighth in the men's hammer (137-0).
Breaking UAA records during preliminary heats were junior James McLaughlin (East Bethel, Minn.) in the men's 400 (48.47) and freshman Shaun Ward in the men's 400 hurdles (54.72). McLaughlin, who broke his own mark by just .01 seconds, recorded the top time in the event. Ward edged his previous school-best effort by .15 seconds.
Senior Michael Madrid (Anchorage), the defending league champion in the 100 and 200, recorded the top 100 time during the preliminary heats of 10.76.
With a full day of competition still ahead and only six completed, the Seawolf women stand fourth overall with 30 points, while the men are fifth with 14. Seattle Pacific stands atop the women's team standings with 71 points, while Central Washington is first on the men's side with 57.
Saturday's final day of events begins at 10 a.m. (Alaska).
