USTFCCCA RELEASE
NEW ORLEANS - The Northern Arizona University men's track and field program received the highest rank achieved in school history as the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) slotted the Lumberjacks as the No. 14 team in the country in its national poll released on Monday.
The men's program had the biggest move of schools in the weekly poll as NAU went from No. 46 to No. 14 after having standout performances from multiple athletes at Stanford University's Payton Jordan Invitational this past Thursday.
"A national ranking in track and field shows how significant some of these performances we've been witnessing are," director of track and field
Michael Smith said. "We're honored to be amongst one the top programs in Division I."
Tyler Day and Matt Baxter both moved into the top five of the NCAA in the men's 10,000-meter race at No. 1 and No. 4, respectively, while Andy Trouard turned in a time of 13:21.07 in the 5000-meter to rank second in the nation in the event.
It is the first time Northern Arizona has appeared in the Top 25 of the poll since the 2016 season. NAU also had the third-best ranking out of mid-major programs in the NCAA (with only Houston and BYU ahead) and held the top rank of any FCS institution.
As a group, the NAU men finished 15th in the nation at the 2018 NCAA Indoor National Championships. It was the second-best finish by a mid-major school in all of Division I.
Northern Arizona returns to action with the 2018 Big Sky Outdoor Championships, hosted by the University of Idaho, May 8-11. While the championships get underway on Tuesday, May 8, NAU will not have any athletes competing until Thursday, May 10.
