17 Lumberjacks Punch Their Tickets to NCAA West Regionals

NCAA PRESS RELEASE
MEET INFO
SCHEDULE (PDF)
RESULTS
FLOTRACK LIVE STREAM

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (May 16, 2019) - The Northern Arizona University track & field program will be sending seventeen student-athletes to the 2019 NCAA West Regional Preliminaries starting on May 23rd and running through May 25th. 

The University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., will host the East Preliminary and California State University, Sacramento in Sacramento, Calif., will host the West Preliminary.  The qualifiers out of these two regions will compete in the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships held June 5-8 in Austin, Texas.

The complete list of participants is available on the following website.

Ten Lumberjack men and seven women qualified after the conclusion of last weekend's slate of conference championships across the country.

The 'Jacks will be lead by Tyler Day, the nation's current leader in the Men's 5000m Run with a time of 13:25.06. Three additional NAU male runners in Geordie Beamish, Luis Grijalva and true freshman Brodey Hasty will be racing with Day in the 5000m Run; with Beamish owning the fourth best time in the West Region (13:31.58). 

Day will also be running in the Men's 10,000m Run with teammate Blaise Ferro. Ferro's time of 28:22.76 is just over two seconds faster than Day's qualifying time of 28:24.94. 

Another true freshman, Theo Quax, will be joined by Cade Burks in the Men's 1500m Run. Burks ran a 3:46.06 last weekend at the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships to not only set a new PR but position himself to qualify for West Regionals. 

The 2019 Big Sky Champion in the Men's Shot Put, Parker Joens, qualified for that event off of a 18.74m throw that earned him the gold medal in Missoula last weekend. Joens will not be the only male Lumberjack thrower making the trip to Sacramento, as Jacob Kaufman also qualified for regionals in the Men's Hammer Throw. 

Cameron Rayford and Helena McLeod will both represent the Blue & Gold in the Long Jump competitions. 

Hannah Behunin and Pipi Eitel are slated to compete in the Women's 1500m Run, with Eitel's time of 4:23.43 and Behunin's of 4:24.75 earning both ladies a trip to Northern California. Behunin was the indoor champion in the Mile Run at the 2019 Big Sky Conference Championships in mid-February.

The 800m Run will be seeing a familiar face in Maggie Carruth next week in Sacramento, as the senior also raced in that event the last two outdoor seasons at NCAA West Preliminaries. Fellow senior Miranda Myers ran in the Women's 5000m Run at West Preliminaries last year and will be taking on the 10,000m Run this season. Jasmine Malone is also listed to compete in an event that she was in at regionals last year, as she will lace up for the Women's 400m Dash again. 

Last but certainly not least the Lumberjacks most decorated athlete at the 2019 Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships, Matilde Roe, will be participating in the Javelin Throw. Roe locked up three silver medals in the javelin, discus and shot put at conference; she also was honored as the Most Valuable Female Athlete and Female Freshman of the Year at the conclusion of conference championships last week.