FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The Northern Arizona women's sprints, jumps, and hurdles crew for 2012 is a new-look squad that should drastically improve its efforts from the 2011 season.  With the graduation of the Lumberjacks' two-time indoor Big Sky champion Amber Anderson, there is a void on the women's team that many newcomers and returners to the Lumberjack women's squad are looking to fill.

Leading the returners are senior hurdler Jenne Childs and senior sprinters Rashida McKinnon and Simone Holder.  Assistant coach Ed Jacoby is optimistic about his athletes' potential this year.

"Jenne is has come along and is running much better than she was last year," said Jacoby.  "We should be much better than we were last year."

McKinnon tied for third place in the 400-meter run at last year's Big Sky Indoor Championships. Holder ran to a 10th-place mark in the 200-meter dash at the same meet.

The addition of some freshman sprinters, Jacoby says, should help more than anything else.  Las Vegas native Darriel Banks and Canada's Shamelle Pless come in with an incredible amount of talent for first years. 

"Darriel and Shamelle both should be able to run under 12 seconds in the 100-meters, and are just as good in the 200-meters," said Jacoby.  "Those two, as well as a couple other freshmen girls need to step up and be able to compete well for us."

Prior to NAU, Pless competed for the Canadian junior national team at the World Youth Championships, where she helped break the Canadian record in the distance medley relay.  She also was the 2011 Alberta provincial champion in the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes.

In the jumps, freshmen Alexis Clay, Jen Fetaz, and Flagstaff native Amanda Stricker, in addition to sophomore Lauren Laszczak, should provide valuable depth for NAU.  Laszczak returns after a solid freshman campaign in which she captured a meet title in the high jump at the Sun Devil Open (5-7) and placed in the top ten at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships with a jump of 5-3.

Clay, a native of Chandler, Ariz., helped her Arizona Cheetahs club team to two consecutive Nike track national championships in 2010 and 2011.  Fetaz, an Alberta, Canada native, helped her 4x100-meter relay team break the Canadian youth record and broke a 26-year-old high jump record during her senior year.  Stricker was named the Arizona Daily Sun Track Athlete of the Year for 2011, and also won the 4A-II title in the long jump.

Another freshman who could make waves this season is Swedish pole vaulter Lisa Lantz.  Lantz, who was recruited along with fellow Swede and close friend Caroline Hogardh, can qualify for the Big Sky Championships in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, and can hopefully take down recent graduate Jami Michaud's record of 12-7 ½ before it's all said and done.

Overall, with a good amount of upperclassmen leadership aiding the immense potential of NAU's newcomers, 2012 may end up being dubbed the "Year of the Freshman" for the Lumberjack women's sprints, jumps, and hurdles crew.