RESULTS (PDF)
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (January 11, 2018) – The Northern Arizona University men's and women's track & field teams had a strong showing at the first home meet of the 2019 indoor season at the Friday Night Duals meet at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Ariz. The Lumberjacks played host to the University of Arizona, Arizona State, Bloomsburg University, Cal State Los Angeles, CSU Bakersfield, Grand Canyon, Southern Utah, UCLA and UNLV.
The day began with men's shot put event. NAU's top finisher in the competition would be sophomore
Parker Joens with a mark of 17.60m to earn a fifth-place spot on the individual leaderboard. Fellow sophomore
Jake Arnold would throw for 15.84m to take seventh-place, with junior teammate
Brady Williams best throw going for 15.44m to take the last spot for the 'Jacks at ninth-place. Arizona Wildcat sophomore Jordan Geist would have the best shot put throw of the day on the men's side with a mark of 20.27m.
Williams, Arnold and Joens all set personal bests for shot put.
"I saw a lot of things I really liked," said head throws coach
Jason Schutz. "Having three guys set PR's at the first meet of the year is big and I can see a lot of improvement."
Freshman Kevin Cooney placed fifth in the men's weight throw competition with a mark of 17.95m. Williams and fellow freshman
William Beaudry placed sixth and seventh on the individual leaderboard with throws of 17.49m and 16.18m respectively. Sophomore
Jacob Kaufman placed eighth with a mark of 16.01m.
In the women's shot put event freshman
Matilde Roe placed seventh overall with a mark of 13.64m; UCLA sophomore Alyssa Wilson placed first in the shot put with a mark of 17.73m.
Junior
Helena McLeod placed fifth in the women's long jump competition with a mark of 5.60m. Teammate senior
Kaitlyn Wayne's best mark was a 4.88m to earn a 21
st-place finish. Senior Jessica Barreira of Arizona State would take the top spot in that event with a mark of 5.82m.
In the women's 60m dash event senior
Jasmine Malone took seventh-place with a time of 7.54 seconds. Sophomore
Jada Jackson placed 11
th with a time of 7.74 seconds. Senior
Clarissa Maxey also placed in the top-20 in the 60m dash with a time of 7.75 seconds to earn 14
th-place.
Malone had what may have been the meet's most impressive performance by winning the women's 300m dash with a time of 37.94 seconds.
"Jasmine is at an awesome place in her training," said head sprints and hurdles coach
Alan Dunson. "She performed amazing and we are really looking forward to continuing her process."
"I felt really confident during my race," said Malone. "I went out hard and executed, which is something my coaches and I have been working on since last semester. It felt great to be able to finally use those strategies and succeed!"
Three Lumberjacks placed in the top-five in the women's mile event. Freshman
Emma Sjolund led the field for NAU with a time of 5:29.31 to earn a third-place finish. Freshman
Abby Riordan (5:31.26) and junior
Zoe Wall (5:31.29) followed Sjolund up with a fourth and fifth-place finish. Grand Canyon sophomore Cheyenne Walden placed first in the mile with a time of 5:22.13.
Junior
Ryan Lanley placed third in the men's mile to lead the Lumberjacks with a time of 4:29.75. Junior Palo Verde transfer
Aldo Marquez placed fifth overall with a time of 4:33.48. Senior
Kyle Havriliak rounded out the finishes for the men's mile for NAU with a time of 4:40.10 to take 13
th-place. Grand Canyon senior Daniel Flores took first in the mile with a time of 4:28.74.
NAU would dominate the women's distance medley event with a total time of 12:31.83, almost 12 seconds better than the next closest finishing team Arizona State (12:43.25). Senior
Maggie Carruth led the way for the 'Jacks along with three freshmen teammates
Abby Riordan,
Melanie Loff and
Emma Sjolund.
"Going into the distance medley race we weren't worried about splits or times we were just focused on competing and I believe we all executed the race plan perfectly. Watching the freshmen open up in their first collegiate track race with as much confidence as they did was truly contagious and fired me up for the last leg of that race."
Carruth would continue to lead the way for the Lumberjack women with a 1:36.10 finish in the women's 600m race to take the top spot. Maxey was just over a second behind Carruth, placing a final time of 1:37.30.
"Going into the 600m race I treated it just like the distance medley," added Carruth. "I wasn't focused on times, I was just focused on going out and competing. My time was not necessarily what I wanted but the fitness will come and it left me hungry for the rest of the season."
In the men's 60m hurdles event junior two sport athlete
Khalil Dorsey placed first with a time of 8.09 seconds, just ahead of senior William Winfield out of Grand Canyon (8.13 sec.). Sophomore
Carter Bracken placed fourth with a time of 8.45 seconds.
True freshman
Christopher Grant placed second in the men's 60m dash with a time of 6.80 seconds only 0.08 seconds behind top finisher junior Tre James out of Southern Utah (6.72 sec.). Dorsey finished the event in fifth-place with a time of 6.86 seconds. Junior
Tyren Wolfe crossed the finish line at 6.95 seconds to place 11
th.
Five Lumberjack men placed in the top-10 in the 300m dash event. Junior
Tyren Wolfe crossed the finish line with a time of 34.50 seconds in the men's 300m dash to capture second-place. Grant placed fifth with a time of 35.69 seconds. Freshman
Michael Marchica (36.41 sec.), sophomore AJ Hollis (36.51 sec.) and Dorsey (36.54 sec.) followed up Wolfe and Grant with eighth, ninth and 10
th-place finishes.
Senior
Obang Odol tied with Grand Canyon senior Christopher Linnin for second-place in the men's high jump competition with marks of 2.05m. Arizona junior Justice Summerset won the event with a mark of 2.15m.
"We are excited about our starting point," said Director of Cross Country and Track & Field
Michael Smith. "Collectively we brought great energy. With the first meet at home we like to see where we are off that big block of fall training. We leave here with a lot to work on, but the big pieces that you are looking for and the way that people respond to competition and how prepared they are for moments like this, those pieces are very much in place."
There were a few events that the Lumberjacks did not participate in despite hosting.
Sophomore Alyson Schwartz of Grand Canyon placed first in the women's pole vault event with a mark of 3.85m, just .010m ahead of second-place finisher Tommi Hintanaus of Arizona State (3.76m).
Wildcat sophomore Lillian Lowe placed first in the women's high jump event with a mark of 1.80m. Sun Devil junior Erika Voyzey and two other Wildcat's, junior Karla Teran and freshman Alexa Porpaczy tied for second-place all hitting a mark of 1.75m.
Four Arizona athletes took the top-four spots in the women's 400m dash. Senior Tatum Waggoner posted a time of 54.42 seconds to take first. Fellow Wildcat seniors Diana Gadja (55.38 sec.) and Karolina Pahlitzsch (56.24 sec.) finished in second and third-place. Freshman Shannon Meisberger ended the event with a time of 56.84 seconds to round out the finishes for Arizona.
Another three Wildcats would take the top-three spots in the men's 400m dash. Sophomore Maj Williams led the field in that event, with freshman Maksims Sincukovs (48.25 sec.) and senior Daniel Egbo (49.00 sec.) following up with second and third-place finishes.
UNLV freshman Jada Hick took first-place in the women's 60m hurdles event with a time of 8.34 seconds. UNLV would take the top three spots in that event with seniors Jasmyne Graham (8.44 sec.) and Taylor Pegram (8.51 sec.) finishing in second and third-place.
The men's 800m race saw ASU sophomore Adam Meyer taking first place with a time of 1:59.31.
Grand Canyon sophomore Alexa Hokanson won the women's 800m race with a time of 2:18.92. Big Sky Conference rival Southern Utah's junior Linnea Saltz was just behind Hokanson to place second (2:19.23).
Andy Buchanan (1:22.85), a freshman for Arizona placed first in the men's 600m race, only milliseconds ahead of Bloomsburg freshman Tyler Bailey (1:22.93).
UCLA sophomore Alyssa Wilson placed first in the women's weight throw competition with a mark of 20.51m.
LUMBERJACK PERSONAL RECORDS SET:
Shot Put
60m Dash
1 Mile
NAU track & field will return to action on January 18th when the Lumberjacks host the Lumberjack Team Challenge, the second of four indoor home meets this season.
