PUEBLO, Colo. – Sophomore Cody Parker became the third Seawolf to claim a national title in outdoor track & field when he furnished the second-best Div. II javelin throw ever on Saturday, helping Alaska Anchorage to another historic appearance at the 2013 championships.
The UAA women's team posted a program-best - men or women - 29 points and program-best 7th place.. The previous best was 28 points and 9th place, recorded from the men's team a year ago, while the women's team high was 17 points and a tie for 11th in 2012. The men's team took 16th.
A local of Comox, B.C., Parker smashed the facility record in Pueblo by 20 feet (the previous record was 235-10), while posting the third-best javelin throw in the country this season – including Div. I – at 255 feet, 10 inches. That toss ranks him second in Div. II, following Ashland's Kirt Thompson's 256-1 from 1996.
Parker, who was an All-American in the event in 2012 with a third-place showing, joins Micah Chelimo (5,000 meters) and David Registe (long jump) as outdoor champions.
Finishing third in the same event was sophomore Franz Burghagen, a local of Berlin. Burghagen collected his first All-America award with a toss of 230-4, tallied on his third attempt. Taking second place from Burghagen was East Stroudsburg's Matt Tholis at 232-0. Combined with Parker, the javelin duo gave the men's team all of its points.
Earning their second All-America honors of the championships were Ruth Keino and Susan Tanui, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 5,000 meters. Adams State's Alicia Nelson, who won the 3,000-meter steeplechase a day ago, took the title at 16:56.82.
Keino, a senior from Kapcheno, Kenya, concluded her collegiate career with a UAA-best eight career All-America awards. After receiving All-America honors for third in the 10,000 meters on Thursday night, Keino repeated that feat on Saturday with a time of 17:11.14.
A local of Eldoret, Kenya, Tanui raced to her seventh career All-America honor with a time of 17:12.78 in the 5K. Tanui also matched her UAA best in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a runner-up performance on Friday – no Seawolf woman has finished higher than Tanui at the track & field NCAAs.
Competing in the 1500-meter finals was junior All-American Ivy O'Guinn. A product of the Kenai Peninsula, O'Guinn finished 10th in her third NCAA outdoor appearance with a time of 4:47.11. The UAA-record holder in the event, O'Guinn earned All-America honors in the same event a year ago.
Throughout the three-day championship, the Seawolves furnished seven All-America awards. In addition to Parker, Burghagen, Keino (2) and Tanui (2), freshman Karolin Anders finished fifth in the heptathlon on Friday for All-America honors. Since 2006, UAA has received 38 All-America awards in outdoors, including 17 in the last two years.
