The UAA track and field team put on a dominant display of distance running Friday at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships, where the Seawolves ran circles around the competition in the 10,000 meters.
Victor Samoei captured his third straight conference title at 10,000 meters to lead a 1-2-3-4 finish for the UAA men in Monmouth, Oregon.
Joyce Chelimo claimed her second 10,000-meter conference crown to help the Seawolves finish 1-2 in the women's race.
Times were slow, but the results were terrific.
In the men's race, less than three-tenths of a second separated the tight pack of Seawolves. The duel for second place between Henry Cheseto and Edwin Kangogo was a photo finish.
Samoei, a senior from Kenya, won in 31 minutes, 38.86 seconds. Then came second-place Cheseto (31:39.02), third-place Kangogo (31:39.02) and fourth-place Michel Ramirez (31:39.13).
Samoei, Cheseto and Kangogo were well off their personal bests — all three boast times under the 30-minute mark. For Ramirez, the race was the first 10,000-meter run of his college career.
In the women's race, Chelimo broke away from teammate Caroline Kurgat to win by more than five seconds in 36:02.39. Kurgat, third at last year's championships, took second in 36:07.59.
Chelimo, who is also a senior from Kenya, was nearly three minutes off the personal-best 33:14 she ran in April, the fastest time this season in NCAA Division II.
The victory was her second GNAC title at 10,000 meters — she also won in 2014. Chelimo was a redshirt last season.
After the first day of competition in Monmouth, the UAA men are in second place with 47 points, three points behind Western Washington.
The women are in sixth place with 25 points. Central Washington leads with 65.
Besides all of the points racked up in the 10,000 meters — 29 for the men and 18 for the women — UAA picked up points in the men's long jump, women's long jump and men's steeplechase Friday.
Cody Thomas, who collected 10 team points for the Seawolves last weekend by winning the GNAC decathlon title, scored six more points Friday by placing third in the men's long jump. He jumped a career-best 23 feet, 3.5 inches.
Derek Gibson added two points with his seventh-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He finished the race in 9:34.64.
Adding to the women's team total was Alexia Blalock, who provided five points with her fourth-place finish in the long jump by sailing 17-8.25.
The UAA women's other team points were scored at last weekend's decathlon and heptathlon championships. Rosie Smith supplied two points by placing seventh in the heptathlon.
Other highlights for the Seawolves on Friday came in the preliminaries for the women's 400 meters, where a pair of juniors enjoyed career-bests.
Mary-Kathleen Cross was the top qualifier in 55.92 seconds, beating her previous-best time of 56.08. Hayley Bezanson was the fifth-fastest qualifier in 57.19, a big improvement over her previous best of 57.92.
The meet continues Saturday at Western Oregon.