FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The second day of the 2016 Mountain T's proved to be an eventful one, highlighted by Northern Arizona University's Futsum Zienasellassie and his performance in the mile event. The NAU redshirt-junior and newly named United States citizen recorded the nation's top mile time today and the second-best time in Walkup Skydome history, running a 3:56.99 after altitude adjustment.

Both Zienasellassie and teammate Cory Glines qualified for conference competition in that event, finishing first and second overall, while five more Lumberjack athletes qualified Saturday afternoon. Both teams ended the weekend with convincing first-place finishes, as the men raked in 222.3 points and the women scored 174.

"[Zienasellassie] has run well, but he's never had the top time in the country in track," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Eric Heins. "He's had good track times, but never the top one. For the rest of the team, it's inspiring to see somebody can improve the way he has. His leadership means a lot to our team."

If not for the men's mile, today's 4x400m men's relay would have been the event of the day, as the Lumberjack crew edged past the squad from Grand Canyon University by two hundredths of a second. Redshirt-sophomore James Fisher handed off to junior Isiah Kennedy to open things up for NAU. Sophomore David Lugo trailed GCU's athlete only slightly going into the final handoff, but senior anchor DeShon Norris did his part and rallied past GCU for an exciting first-place finish with a 3:14.84 time.

One of the new conference qualifiers today was second-semester transfer and thrower Adam Keenan. Competing for the first time at the collegiate level in the weight throw, Keenan tossed a 19.07m, 62-06.75 mark, good enough for first place. On the women's side, redshirt-sophomore Brooke Andersen topped her previous career-best in the women's weight throw—set at Friday Night Duals a week ago—with a 19.42m, 63-08.75 mark Saturday.

Additionally, Norris (400m), redshirt-senior JaShawn Combs (60h), junior Michael Chin (800m) and freshman Peter Lomong (800m) all qualified for conference today. In total, the Lumberjacks now have 18 athletes that are set to compete at indoor conference in late February, and there's still three meets left before then.

"I like our progression moving forward as conference approaches," said Heins. "If you're going to add qualifiers and add improvements each week, that's all you can ask for."

The Lumberjacks are off until they pick things up again the weekend of February 12 with the NAU Invite from the Walkup Skydome. Tickets for that event can be purchased online, or outside the east entrance of the Skydome. Some NAU athletes will also travel to Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa State Classic that same weekend.

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