PUEBLO, Colo. – Freshman Karolin Anders and junior Susan Tanui each collected All-America honors on Day 2 of the NCAA Div. II Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Pueblo, Colo.
Anders finished fifth in the heptathlon for her second career All-America honor, while Tanui posted her sixth career All-America accolade with a runner-up finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on Friday in 90 degree sunshine.
Tanui, from Eldoret, Kenya, finished second in the steeplechase for the second consecutive year with a time of 10:38.36. Tanui edged University of Mary's Jennifer Agnew at the tape by .17 of a second. Adams State's Alicia Nelson, the championship record holder, won the event for the second time of her career at 10:26.95, while the rest of the field was about 20 seconds behind the trio.
In the heptathlon, Anders leapt from ninth at the end of Day 1 to fifth on Day 2 with 5,000 points. Her best event of the championships was the high jump where she posted a school-record leap of 5-7.75 for 879 points. Seattle Pacific's Ali Worthen won the event with 5,340 points.
Anders, from Berlin, Germany, furnished a leap of 17-8 in the long jump on her first attempt and then went on to throw a 113-3 in the javelin to place her sixth going into the final event. Anders entered the meet with a career best of 2:26.92 in the 800 meters and improved to 2:25.89 to jump into fifth place in the final standings.
Anders, already an All-American from the indoor circuit, became UAA's second All-American in the women's heptathlon following Kelsea Johnson in 2012.
In the men's decathlon – contested for the first time by a UAA athlete at the NCAAs – sophomore Cody Thomas finished 13th with 6,373 points. Thomas is the GNAC champ in the multi-event and holds the school record at 6,781.
Thomas opened the day with a personal best in the 110-meter hurdles, clocking in at 15.11 and knocking .12 of a second off his previous best, before registering a toss of 112-7 on his third attempt in the discus. In the pole vault, Thomas went 10-9.75, before recording a throw of 146-8 in the javelin and a time of 5:05.42 in the 1500 meters.
In the 800 meter prelims, juniors Ivy O'Guinn and Susan Bick were unable to qualify for the finals Saturday, finishing 12th and 17th, respectively.
Following eight scored events, the UAA women's team sits at No. 3 with 18 points. Grand Valley State leads with 30 points. On the men's side, Ashland tops the field with 18 points after six events. The women's 18 points is a program-high, topping the 17 points from last season.
In the final day of competition on Saturday, the Seawolves will see O'Guinn in the 1500-meter finals, Franz Burghagen and Cody Parker compete for the javelin title and Tanui and Ruth Keino in the 5,000 meters.
