Send this article to Promobot

Wilt among steeplechase favorite at GNAC

May 11th 1:10 pm | Van Williams Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

Imagine being a college athlete who accomplished a record-setting achievement as a senior only to have it taken away five hours later.

Welcome to Hallidie Wilt's world.

The University of Alaska Anchorage runner from Unalaska has enjoyed lots of memorable moments during her star-studded career, but few of them compared to her breaking the conference record in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase on April 19.

It happened at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., where she became the record holder in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference after running a personal-best time of 10 minutes, 31.30 seconds.

She beat the previous conference record by 4 minutes. Now the record was hers.

Five hours later it was taken away.

UAA teammate Susan Tanui from Kenya ran the steeplechase in 10:15.47 in the second race later in the day to beat Wilt's record by 15 seconds.

"I'm just glad it was my teammate and not a rival," Wilt said.

All was not lost, though.

Wilt's time was good enough for an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Championships on May 24-26 in Pueblo, Colo. The automatic qualifying time was 10:35.

"That was definitely a milestone," Wilt said.

Before competing at Nationals, though, she will go for gold at the GNAC Championships this weekend in Monmouth, Ore.

Wilt and Tanui are training partners preparing for the same race. It's got all the ingredients for drama, but both runners have handled the situation with class.

"She consistently reassures me that I can take that record back and I am always giving her a hard time about taking it from me," Wilt said with a laugh. "We have a fun, competitive nature between us. It's good."

Thanks to Tanui and Wilt, the two women have helped push the women's steeplechase to new heights, not only at UAA but the entire GNAC, which also includes schools in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Canada.

They both want to win, but they also have their sights set on Nationals down the road.

"I just want to do my best," Wilt said.

The Alaska runner is almost more focused on the team title. The Seawolves are looking to improve on their sixth-place showing in each of the last two years.

"The team has changed a lot," Wilt said. "I'm excited to see what we can do together."

Wilt should be recognized for her athletic and academic success in college.

Last Sunday, the 23-year-old student-athlete received her Bachelor's degree in Psychology at UAA's graduation ceremony at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

Reach Van Williams at sports@reportalaska.com.

 

Contact us about this article at editor@thebristolbaytimes.com

Copyright 2013 The Bristol Bay Times is a publication of Alaska Media, LLC. This article is © 2013 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are granted for this printing only. This article, in any form, may not be further reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Portions of this article may belong to other agencies; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Media, LLC makes no provisions for further distribution.