SALEM, Ore. – Sophomore sprinter Jamie Ashcroft was one of six Alaska Anchorage track & field athletes to post NCAA provisional qualifying times during Saturday's Charles Bowles Invitational at Willamette University.
Ashcroft blazed to victories in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, and anchored the Seawolves' winning 4x100 relay team. Her time of 11.86 in the 100 was just 0.17 off her personal best, while her mark of 24.50 in the 200 was nearly a full second better than runner-up Megan Sullivan of Eastern Oregon (25.49) and broke the Charles Bowles Track record of 24.63 by Portland State's Dominique Maloney from 2013.
Senior All-American Haleigh Lloyd – coming off a redshirt season – also earned an NCAA provisional mark in the 400-meter hurdles, with her time of 1:00.96 besting the field by more than four seconds.
Junior Jessica Pahkala topped Oregon State's Sam McKinnon by more than a second in the women's 800 meters with an NCAA provisional time of 2:12.80, while freshman Tamara Perez earned the first provisional mark of her career with a solid 14:31.70 finish in the 1500 meters.
Finally, junior Beatrice Decker joined the NCAA provisional party with a third-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:09.34.
On the men's side, freshman Nathan Kipchumba ended the Seawolves' day by racing to a personal-best time of 3:52.01 in the men's 5,000 meters, cracking the NCAA provisional standard by just 0.03.
Senior Franz Burghagen was first among collegiate throwers with a javelin launch of 216 feet, 8 inches (66.04 meters). The Berlin native easily surpassed the NCAA provisional mark, although he already owns an automatic qualifying throw of 224-10 from earlier this month.
The Seawolves also got strong showings on the men's side from freshman Darrion Gray, who placed third in both the 100-meter (11.05) and 200-meter (21.92) dashes.
UAA returns to action next week with athletes competing at both the Stanford Invitational and San Francisco State Distance Carnival, Apr. 3-4.