INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Alaska Anchorage will be represented by nine Seawolves who have qualified for the upcoming 2011 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships, May 26-28 at Turlock, Calif. The final entry list of NCAA participants was announced Tuesday at the NCAA headquarters.
UAA will suit up four men and five women for the second straight season. In 2009, the Seawolves qualified a program-best 10 athletes.
Returning to the NCAA circuit after redshirting last season is senior David Registe in the long jump. Registe, a local of Palmer (Colony HS), tops the field with a leap of 25' 10¾, leading his nearest competitor by over four inches. The 2008 NCAA long jump champion, Registe finished runner-up in 2009 at the national meet before missing the 2010 season with an injury.
Qualifying for the third straight season is junior Alfred Kangogo in the 1500 meters. Kangogo, from Eldoret, Kenya, will enter the race ranked third with a season-best time of 3:44.67, just over two seconds out of first. Kangogo earned All-America honors last season with an eight-place showing in the same event.
Heading to the NCAAs for the second time are juniors Shaun Ward and Miriam Kipng'eno and sophomores Micah Chelimo and Ruth Keino. Ward, a 2009 All-American, will compete in the 400-meter hurdles, where he is ranked 12th, while Chelimo, who finished seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase last season, will compete in the same event with a No. 4 ranking.
Both Kipng'eno and Keino will compete in the 5,000 meters for the second consecutive season, ranking 11th and 13th, respectively. Keino, from Kapcheno, Kenya, will also race the 10K (No. 7), while Kipng'eno (Eldoret, Kenya) will partake in the 1500 meters (No. 15).
Making their NCAA debut are freshmen Susan Bick (800m, 7th), Haleigh Lloyd (400-meter hurdles, 16th) and Ivy O'Guinn, who is ranked 13th in the 800 meters and 14th in the 1500 meters.
The qualifications mark the 10th consecutive season UAA has sent athletes to the NCAA Championships and seventh straight it has qualified multiple athletes.
