2008 Woodie Awards
Seawolves send 3 runners to NCAA championship
Lindsay A. Hufford
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The UAA track and field team joined with 1,100 athletes at one of the largest meets in southern California for the Triton Invitational held at University of California San Diego April 22. The invitational gave UAA their final chance to qualify for its Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships held May 6 in Monmouth, Ore.
UAA's David Kiplagat got second place in the 5,000-meter run with 14 minutes and 27.29 seconds and third overall-best run in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:57.31, 1.15 seconds behind UCSD's Carl Lostrom.
UCSD's men posted the fastest time of any teams at the meet in the 4x400-meter relay with 3:13.94, and the University of California Riverside took the lead in the women's 4x400-meter relay with 3:43.42.
The Seawolves broke five school records and one conference record at the invitational.
Prior to the meet, head coach Michael Friess said the strong competition helped the athletes compete at their highest intensity.
"We're looking at this meet as allowing the competition to pull you through to higher performances," Friess said. "We're going to be having competition that we feel is going to help us improve our marks."
The marks stayed strong for parts of UAA's track and field team. Not only did Kiplagat perform as well as he has done throughout the regular season, but UAA's Eric Draper, a high jumper and member of the men's relay team, took fourth place in the men's high jump with 2.05-meters €" about two inches less than California State Fullerton's Matt Turner.
"It's definitely a good opportunity when you can go out there and try to compete against the best, because that's the one thing about this sport; you want to be the best, a champion," Draper said. "This meet, to me, is not about being a champion; it's about improving. As long as I can improve, I know later down the line I can be a champion."
Athletes from dozens of schools €" nearly 20 of which are Division I, including Arizona State, UCLA and New Mexico €" competed at the event. The Invitational also had many independent athletes, as well as competitors from Canada, Norway and Hungary, as well as athletes representing Nike.
Draper earned a GNAC record-tying high jump with 6 feet 8 inches at a previous meet. The feat earned him the honor of being named GNAC men's athlete of the week April 10.
Teammate Mary Pearce who was named GNAC women's of the week March 13 after winning both the 200- and 400-meter dashes. Pearce set a school record in the 400-meter with a time of 55.34 seconds. That time earned her a qualifying spot for the national championships held on May 25-27 in Kansas.
Last year, UAA sent two athletes to the NCAA championships. This year UAA will send three runners:Mandy Kaempf, David Kiplagat and Pearce.
Draper, whose high jump is enough to get him to conference championships, said he hoped to get a higher jump to qualify him for nationals, and Coach Friess said a few players are on the line as far as qualifying for GNAC championships.