SPOKANE, WASH. – The University of Alaska Anchorage posted 10 podium finishes on the final day of the GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships Tuesday.
"We are still a ways away from where we want to be and where the standard is set for us as a program," said head coach Ryan McWilliams. "But I'm so proud of the effort and fight of this team. We had some great individual and relay performances, but I'm most proud of the fight and grit in the small battles most everyone else doesn't pay attention to. The fights for fourth instead of fifth the fights for 10th instead of 11th. Those are the battles and mentality that are ultimately going to get us back to where we want to be, and we had athletes fighting for them all through these two days."
Joshua Wagner led the Seawolves with two conference titles and four podium finishes. He won the 60 hurdles in a time of 8.11, and tied his personal-best in the 60 to finish third in 7.05. Wagner finished third in the 200 in 22.19 before anchoring the 4x400 relay to the win in 3:22.22.
They relay, which was comprised of Wyatt Rohde, Kevin Angarita, Adrian Velasco and Joshua Wagner, ran a season-best, and the seventh-best time in program history.
Kevin Angarita ran a personal-best and the eighth-best time in school history to finish third in the 400 in 49.73. He finished seventh in the 200 in 22.98.
The men's 3,000-meter came down to a photo finish among three men. Simon Fraser's Aaron Ahl, the defending GNAC champion in cross country, won in 8:21.23, followed by Cole Nash in second (8:21.57) and Jacob Moos in third (8:21.64).
Nancy Jeptoo finished third in the mile (5:04.70) and fourth in the 3,000 (10:16.39).
Alfin Nyamasyo placed seventh in the 3,000 (10:30.21).
Tylantiss Atlas ran 56.72 to finish second in the 400, and led off the 4x400 relay to a fourth-place finish in a season-best time of 4:01.06. Other members of the team included Leonie Flad, Victoria Johansen and Haley Bartolaba.
Mette Van der Meer placed fourth in the pole vault (11-7) and seventh in the 60 hurdles (9.31).
Collin Sample finished third in the triple jump thanks to a personal-best and the fifth-best mark in school history of 43-6.5.
Felix Robertson also jumped a personal-best, and the sixth-best mark in program history, to finish eighth in the triple jump.
The men's team finished fourth and the women finished sixth out of nine teams.
