| NCAA Indoor National Championships in College Station, Texas
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Northern Arizona University track and field program is ready to compete at the 2018 NCAA Indoor National Championships, hosted by Texas A&M at the Gilliam Indoor Stadium this Friday and Saturday, March 9-10.
The Lumberjacks set a new school record as six athletes qualified for the national meet this indoor season. NAU participants include Brooke Andersen (women's weight throw), Matt Baxter (3000m), Paige Gilchrist (5000m), Jasmine Malone (400m), Ashley Taylor (800m) and Andy Trouard (3000m/5000m).
It will be the third appearance in an NCAA Championship for Andersen and Baxter while Trouard qualified for the second time in his career. Gilchrist, Taylor and Malone will all be making their first NCAA appearance.
Malone will get things underway as she competes in the women's 400m semifinal at 5:40 p.m. MST on Friday. Taylor will follow her in the women's 800m semifinal at 6:25 p.m. MST.
Trouard will take to the track next at 7:05 p.m. MST for the men's 5000m final and Gilchrist will close out the evening with the women's 5000m final at 7:25 p.m. MST.
Andersen will then get Saturday's action underway with the women's weight throw at 3:30 p.m. MST. Following her on the track will be the women's 400m and 800m finals at 4 p.m. and 4:40 p.m. MST, respectively.
Trouard and Baxter will close out the meet for the Lumberjacks with the men's 3000m final at 5:10 p.m. MST.
Fans can follow along with the NCAA Indoor National Championships live on ESPN3. The ESPN feed will start at 4:30 p.m. MST March 9 and 3 p.m. MST on March 10. A re-air of the championships will take place starting at 5 p.m. MST Sunday, March 11 on ESPN2.
Here's what to watch for out of the Northern Arizona athletes competing this weekend:
Throws
NCAA veteran Brooke Andersen will look to continue her run of success on the national scene.
The senior already holds the NAU and Big Sky Conference record in the weight throw with a toss of 22.25m that won the Big Sky individual title in late February. Andersen has set new personal bests ever time she has thrown this season and shows confidence heading into nationals.
"This weekend I'm feeling confident, just trusting in my abilities to execute the weight technique that Coach Ott and I have been working on all year," Andersen said. "I'm mainly focusing on hitting all of my catches and having a set start place from there to fix what I need to from a technical standpoint. I'm hoping that by achieving this I can come within the top eight this year, but mainly I just want to have a solid competition and some fun at my last NCAA indoor meet."
Andersen has cleared 21 meters  in five of her seven meets this season, including a chuck of 21.77m for a sixth-place finish at the 2018 USATF Indoor Championships.
"Brooke is continuing to gain confidence competing at these high level meets," director of track and field Michael Smith said. "I love that she got to compete at the USATF indoors. The fact she got to go to a national meet of that caliber and then to follow it up with her performance at the Big Sky Championships is huge. I'm super excited for her. This is just another step in the process for her as she works towards the outdoor season in the hammer."
Sprints
Jasmine Malone broke through to the NCAAs after going off with a school and Big Sky record of 52.60 (altitude-converted) in the 400m dash at the conference championships. She collected victories in the 200m, distance medley relay and the women's 4x400m at the same event in one of the best overall individual performances at a conference meet in Lumberjack history.
"Jasmine had a historical indoor season," Smith said. "I think she's got a great chance to make the final. Us running on that 200m banked track in the sprints is a little bit different than what we're used to but we got in a good practice session in today."
"Her spirits are high and he's excited and loose," Smith added. "We have a lot of folks here that are seniors but Jasmine has a great chance for laying down the foundation for her to return to this meet in not only outdoor track, but next year as well."
To say that Malone is pleased to be at nationals is an understatement.
"It feels amazing being here," Malone said. "I have all types of emotions that make me excited to compete, especially this being my first NCAA indoor national meet. This is such huge competition and a chance for NAU to go out there and show what we got which is an honor to me and the rest of the team."
So when exactly did the junior know she was NCAA bound?
"I realized I may have had a shot when I was able to catch my breath after the race at the Big Sky Championships," Malone added. "I knew my time would be somewhere within the top 20 and for it to be better than I expected, I just felt so proud and motivated. I think I was just more overwhelmed and excited about the time itself before realizing I'd be heading to College Station!"
Distance
The distance group at nationals is stacked on the NAU side and is led by four veterans who all have some type of national experience in either track and field or cross country.
Andy Trouard leads the unit after qualifying in both the 3000m and 5000m races.
"Andy comes here with the ability to handle either a fast pace or a tactical race so I really like his skill set in either scenario," Smith said. "If he goes from the front, he's strong enough to be there and can still close at the end. If it's a tactical race, we saw at Iowa State that he can close with the best in the country. With Andy he just needs good positioning and he'll have himself in some great situations in both races this weekend."
"I'm just really excited to get out there and race," Trouard said. "I am ranked well in the 3000m, but there's such a small gap between the 1st and 16th runners in both the 3000m and 5000m that it's going to take everything I have to do well. It's a unique experience to be in a race where times no longer matter. It's just about racing the people around you that day, so my goals are to be in the race for a title as long as I can."
Also on men's side, Matt Baxter will look to battle his teammate in the 3000m.
"Matt is a great competitor," Smith said. "He's a fantastic person to observe race because he races with a lot of maturity as a true veteran of the sport. He's sneaky. He's the 16th qualifier in but he's not the 16th best person in 3000m in the nation. I think you're going to find him towards the front when things get going and I'm really excited to watch him work through his process."
Because of his ranking of 16th in the event, Baxter wasn't sure if he would be joining his teammates at nationals.
"Conference weekend was a time of high emotions for me," Baxter said. "I was not safe in any event for nationals going into the final day of competition. There was a good chance a couple of guys would try bump me from that 3000m ranking."
"When I knew I was safe for the 3km it was a relief more than anything," he added. "It was exciting to know that I get to come back to Texas and redeem my last year's efforts. My goal for this race is to beat as many souls as I can while having fun doing it."
On the women's side, Ashley Taylor made nationals in the women's 800m race.
"Ashley is in great spirits in this event this season," Smith said. "We think she's in a great position to compete and make the final. We're just excited for her to get in there and continue to gain confidence navigating this field."
"My goal this weekend is to make finals and compete against these girls, because I know I'm just as good if not better," Taylor said. "16th and last in doesn't mean anything to me coming into this. I want to come out an All-American."
Last but not least, Paige Gilchrist will be representing NAU in the women's 5000m race.
"If you look at the 5000m qualifiers, there are a few times up front that put some athletes far away but most of the field is really, really close," Smith said. "Paige has just been talking about competing all week. The goal there is to see how high she can place in that field, continuing to gain experience competing at this level."
"This is my first national track appearance and I feel very grateful to have qualified with such a strong field and this year being my last shot," Gilchrist added. "I've taken 47 seconds off my 5000m in the last two seasons with Coach Smith and now get the chance to compete in a meet I had never even considered making. It has been a very humbling experience."
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