NEW ORLEANS – Alaska Anchorage had two Seawolves – Ruth Keino and Susan Tanui – named U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association National Athletes of the Week Monday following their performances at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships last weekend.

Tanui, from Eldoret, Kenya and Keino, a local of Kapcheno, Kenya, combined for 54 points between four different distance events in two days to help lead the Seawolves to their first-ever outdoor GNAC team crown. The Seawolves bested three-time defending champion Seattle Pacific with a 169-146 win.

Tanui kicked off the women's track competition May 10 with a dominant win in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:41.88, defeating the runner-up by more than 20 seconds. Fewer than four hours later the pair closed the day with a 1-2 showing in the 10,000 meters, with Keino taking the win at 36:02.00, less than a second ahead of Tanui.

May 11 saw Tanui take fourth at 1500 meters in 4:28.78 and Keino sixth in 4:33.30 for eight more team points. Keino and Tanui concluded their weekends with another 1-2 showing at 5,000 meters in 17:35.97 and 17:37.08, respectively, for eight more points. In total the duo was close to scoring a third of the team's championship points.

Tanui and Keino and other qualified Seawolves will head to Pueblo, Colo., on May 23-25 for the 2013 NCAA Div. II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.