Naomi Bailey
Fairbanks’ Naomi Bailey dropped the hammer at the NCAA Division II Pre-Nationals and nailed her second career victory in cross country.
The UAF sophomore bested a women’s field of 224 runners after posting a sizzling 6-K time of 20 minutes, 46.1 seconds – nine seconds ahead of runner-up Katie Doucette of Western Colorado.
Bailey crushed a personal best on the Chambers Creek Regional Park course in University Place, Washington, where she obliterated her previous PR by 58.9 seconds set at last year’s West Regional meet.
At the first split, Bailey was in a virtual tie for fourth at 6:32 and by the second split she was in the lead at 8:59.
This was her fifth top-3 finish in nine career races and her first victory since winning last year’s Seawolf Throwdown at Kincaid Park.
Kendall Kramer
Fellow Fairbanks native Kendall Kramer also PR’d and gave the Nanooks two runners in the top-10 at the NCAA Division II Pre-Nationals.
Kramer was sixth in 21:03, knocking 33 seconds off her pervious best 6-K time from last year’s GNAC Championships.
Bailey and Kramer are both out of West Valley High, where Bailey won Gatorade Alaska Runner of the Year honors twice (XC, track) and Kramer won Gatorade Alaska of the Year three times (all in XC).