NAU Track and Field sweep Big Sky Indoor Championships

NAU track and field continued their dominance at the Big Sky Indoor Championships in Moscow, Idaho. Over the two day event, the Lumberjacks scored a combined 383 points. NAU men scored a total of 182.50, while NAU women 200.50. The women’s score set the record for the highest total in conference championship history. It is also the first time a Big Sky school has scored 200 or more points indoors.

To put NAU’s dominance in perspective, the second place finisher in the women’s group was Montana State with 125 points while the runner up on the men’s side was Idaho with 113 points.

Multiple Lumberjacks came home with their own accolades as well. 

Senior David Dunlap was awarded Men’s Most Outstanding Athlete and Co-Men’s Most Valuable Athlete. Dunlap set a school and conference record in the 200-meter with a time of 20.54. He also won the 60-meter with a time 6.64, coming within .02 seconds of the conference record of 6.62.

Junior Annika Reiss and sophomore Alyssa Colbert were named as Co-Women’s Most Valuable Athlete.

Redshirt sophomore Drew Bosley also was awarded the Co-Men’s Most Valuable Athlete. Bosley put up impressive times that netted him two gold medal finishes on the final day of competition. He won the 3000-meter with a time of 7:59.05, coming with .03 seconds of the conference record set by sophomore Nico Young last year. Bosley also secured the 5000-meter with a time of 13:39.87, setting a new conference record and breaking his own record of 14:05.96 set last year.

Young had strong finishes as well. He finished third in the 3000-meter, while redshirt sophomore Corey Gorgas took fifth and sophomore Kang Nyoak took seventh. Young also finished second behind Bosley in the 5000-meter with his own record time of 13:43.70. Sophomore Santiago Gomez-Prosser finished fourth in the event and freshman Aiden Puffer took fifth.

In the men’s mile, five Lumberjacks scored and placed in the top ten. NAU filled every spot third through seventh. Redshirt junior Theo Quax led the group with a time of 4:03.88 and finished third. Following him was Nyoak in fourth with a personal best time of 4:04.87. Freshman Colin Sahlman finished in fifth with a time of 4:04.94. In sixth and seventh were Gorgas with a time of 4:04.96 and sophomore Aiden Barnhill with a time of 4:06.02.

The women's mile was also dominated by the Lumberjacks. Reiss won the event with a time of 4:45.53. Following closely in second was redshirt junior Bryn Morley with a time of 4:46.11. Sophomore Nikita Moore also finished in fourth with a time of 4:49.54.

The 800-meter was a strong suit on the women’s side. Sophomore Maggie Congdon won gold and broke the conference championship record with a time of 2:05.71. It was a record that had gone unbroken since 2001. Morley also finished fifth in the event with a time of 2:10.98.

NAU continued to top the chart in the women’s 60-meter and 400-meter dashes.

Colbert set a conference record and won gold in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.32. Sophomore La Trouchka Duke was the runner-up with a time of 7.40. Junior Kenya Coburn scored as well and finished in sixth place with a time of 7.69.

Two more Lumberjacks finished on top in the 400-meter dash. Sophomore Kyairra Reigh won the event with a time of 53.68, while sophomore LiNay Perry finished second with a time of 53.98. Fifth year senior Alonna Johnson was the third Lumberjack to score in the event. Johnson finished in fifth with a time of 55.80.

The final runs of the day included the 4x400-meter relay, in which the table once again saw Lumberjacks climb to the top. The women’s group of Duke, Perry, Johnson and Reigh won gold with a time of 3:41.06. The women’s time was 17 seconds short of the conference record, which was set by NAU in 2018. The men’s group finished just outside the top five in the event. The sophomore Givens twins, Tyson and Trenton, as well as sophomore Ethan Seppala and sophomore Kyle Smith scored and finished sixth with a time of 3:15.67.

NAU led the pack in the men’s weight throw. Fifth year senior John Murphy captured gold with a throw of 20.62 meters. Sophomore Desmond Lott followed up not too far behind, winning silver with a throw of 20.15 meters. In third was redshirt senior Parker Bays with a throw of 19.72m. The only women’s throw competitor was redshirt junior Alaina Diggs. Diggs finished fourth in the women’s shot put with a throw of 14.11 meters.

A Lumberjack finished in second and fifth in both the men’s and women’s triple jump. 

Fifth year senior Jenna Figueroa was runner-up in the women’s triple jump with a jump distance of 12.03 meters. The men’s silver finalist was Junior Mitchell Effing, who had a jump distance of 15.27 meters.

The respective fifth place finishers were juniors Kenashalee Kerr and Jack Normand. Kerr scored in the women’s jump with a distance of 11.83 meters, while Normand scored with a distance of 14.49 meters.

NAU soared above the rest of the Big Sky competition to close out another successful indoor track and field and season. The NAU men now rank 15 in the country in indoor track and field, while the NAU women rank fourth in the Mountain region.