Kendall Kramer
Call them the Fabulous Freshmen from Fairbanks.
Two frosh from the University of Alaska Fairbanks have punched their tickets to the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships on Nov. 20 in Tampa, Florida.
Kendall Kramer and Naomi Bailey earned the honors after placing fifth and sixth, respectively, in the women’s 6-K race at the West Region Championships last week in Monmouth, Oregon. The race was held amid mud, rain and wind.
The last time UAF runners competed at NCAAs was 2011, when the women’s team placed 17th overall.
Kramer and Bailey are West Valley High graduates — each won state cross country titles there. UAF’s other national qualifier is Rosie Fordham of Sydney, Australia.
Naomi Bailey
“We knew we had a good shot at qualifying our top three runners for the NCAA Championships, and that was a conversation we had with all three leading up to the West Regional Race,” UAF assistant coach Josh Sanderlin said. “I couldn’t be more proud.”
Despite the stellar performances at the West Region meet, the Nanook women did not record a team score there. Due to injury, only four runners competed, one shy of the requirement for teams. The UAF women placed third at their conference championships on Oct. 23.
Meanwhile, freshman Cole Nash (Littleton, Colorado) was the lone University of Alaska Anchorage runner to qualify for NCAAs by virtue of his fifth-place finish at the West Region meet.
Having only one individual and no teams qualify for NCAAs is a departure for the UAA program. Under the leadership of now-former coach Michael Friess, the UAA women’s team incredibly finished among the top eight teams in the country 11 straight years from 2009-19.
Meanwhile, the UAA men finished in the Top 8 eight times in nine years before failing to qualify in 2019 (the 2020 championships were canceled due to the pandemic).
Between 2008-19, the UAA men and women combined to produce 46 All-Americans.
The NCAA Division I team and individual qualifiers will be announced after regional meets are held this weekend.