FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The J.L. Walkup Skydome track will be lit up with area talent for one last time this indoor season Thursday night as Northern Arizona University hosts the NAU Tune-Up, its fourth and final track meet of 2013. With Lumberjack standouts Diego Estrada and Brian Shrader slated to compete in Flagstaff for the final time this year, the Valentine's Day meet surely won't disappoint.

Estrada and Shrader, who lit up the track with the Big Sky Conference's fastest two times of the season in the 3,000 meters Saturday at the Husky Classic, headline Thursday's competition. Estrada will run his first 5,000 meters of the season, while Shrader is looking to best his personal record of 3:59.76 in the mile and garner a spot at March's NCAA Indoor Championships.

The distance events won't be the only ones to pay attention to, however. The Lumberjacks are using the NAU Tune-Up as a final opportunity to fill out their Big Sky Conference Indoor Championship rosters, so for some athletes the stakes have never been higher.

To qualify for the postseason meet, athletes either must meet a predetermined standard mark or have a mark ranking in the top 16 for the 2013 indoor season.

The Lumberjack men have 22 athletes currently eligible for the championship meet, although two sit within the 16 best conference marks and three qualify as part of the 4x400-meter relay squad. NAU's women have 19 athletes eligible, with five coming via a Top 16 mark and one as part of the 4x400-meter relay squad.

On the men's side, true freshman Chris Oestmann needs two and a half inches (6 cm) to reach a qualifier in the high jump, but currently sits 15th in the conference. Fellow freshman Matt League hopes to improve upon his 16th-place mark of 1:55.70 in the 800 meters to solidify his own spot at the conference meet.

For the Lumberjack women, true freshmen Rolonda Jumbo and Jade Childs sit painfully close to Big Sky qualifiers in their respective events, but should earn a guaranteed trip to the Big Sky Championships with improvements Thursday night. Jumbo is currently tied for 15th and is less than a half-second shy of the conference qualifier in the mile with a time of 5:01.48, while Childs sits 10th in the league in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.87, 12 hundredths of a second away from the auto-qualifier.

The field events get underway at 3 p.m. Arizona time with the women's pole vault, followed by the women's long jump at 4:30. The running events commence at 5:30 p.m. with the women's 5,000-meter run, and conclude at 9:45 after the finish of the men's 4x400-meter relay.