NAU Men Post Trio of Top National Mile Times at Lumberjack Team Challenge

Results

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (January 17, 2020) - Northern Arizona's track & field program continued to build on a strong opener on Friday afternoon/evening at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome as the 'Jacks hosted their second home meet of the indoor season, the Lumberjack Team Challenge.

The 'Jacks faced off against the likes of Arizona State University, California State Northridge University, Grand Canyon University, Ottawa University (AZ), Southern Utah, UC Riverside and UNLV; along with unattached athletes and competitors. 

NAU's men's distance squad led the charge with a dominating team performance in the Men's Mile Run. Geordie Beamish, Luis Grijalva and Tyler Day all ran for altitude converted sub-four minute mile runs. At the time of publication Beamish, the defending national champion in the men's indoor mile, owns the top time in the country in the men's mile according to the Track & Field Results Reporting System. His time of 4:07.15 converted to 3:58.17, putting him just ahead of Grijalva (3:58.69*) and Day (3:59.21). Grijalva currently has the second best time in NCAA Division I, with Day slotted in the No. 3 spot.

The NAU women had multiple freshmen and newcomers make their NAU debuts on Friday, with many having top performances in their disciplines. Bryn Morley placed first among collegiate runners in the Women's Mile Run finishing with a non-converted time of 5:06.67. Melanie Loff took second in the Women's 600m Dash with a time of 1:35.60 to set a new personal best. True freshmen Kenashalee Kerr, Kenya Coburn and Courtney Weisenberger each set a new PR in the Women's 60m Dash (Kerr, 7.86; Coburn, 7.65; Weisenberger, 8.10). Kerr and Weisenberger also jumped for a new PR's in the Triple Jump (Kerr, 11.40m; Weisenberger, 10.86), with Coburn setting a new personal best in the Long Jump (5.00m). Jada Jackson and Miracle Onyemaobi had a pair of fifth-place finishes in the Women's 200m (Jackson, 24.90) and 400m Dashes (Onyemaobi, 56.03).

Senior women's distance runner Mikayla Malaspina won the Women's 3000m Run with a time of 10:29.13 during her 2020 indoor opener.

Northern Arizona had 31 top-five individual performances throughout 13 events:

• Men's distance runners Theo Quax (1:58.34), James Fitzgerald (1:59.64), Caleb Easton (2:00.14) and Mitchell Small (2:00.20) took the one thru four spots in the Men's 800m Run. 
• Cameron Rayford was the top performer in the Men's Triple Jump as the senior hit a mark of 14.70m, beating out ASU's Tyrek McNeese by just .11m (14.59m).
• In the Men's 3000m Run a handful of Lumberjacks came in the top-five having been led by Raff (8:31.16), Nur (8:34.15), Day (8:38.61), Grijalva (8:41.74) and Beamish (8:49.29).
• Junior thrower Parker Joens placed second in the Men's Shot Put with his 17.66m toss; sophomore Jake Arnold came in fourth-place with a throw for 17.07m.
• Sprinter/hurdler Carter Bracken placed fifth in the Men's 60m Hurdles (8.05).
• Jada Jackson finished with a time of 24.90 to come in fifth in the Women's 200m Dash
• Sprinter Miracle Onyemaobi's time of 56.03 in the Women's 400m Dash was good for a fifth-place spot on the individual leaderboard.
• True freshman Annika Reiss opened up her collegiate career on Friday as she placed fifth in the Women's 800m Run; Reiss was followed by teammate junior Pipi Eitel who placed sixth (2:23.84).
• Distance runners Ryan Raff (4:12.88), Quax (4:13.06), Cade Burks (4:16.33), Blaise Ferro (4:16.60), Abdihamid Nur and Small all finished just behind Beamish, Grijalva and Day to each finish with at least a 4:23.1 non-converted mile.
• Reiss (5:08.67) and Malaspina (5:09.17) placed fourth and fifth-place, respectively, in the Women's Mile Run just behind Morley.
• True freshman Madeline Wilson made podium in the Women's High Jump with her 1.52m jump to take third.
• Carly Watts had another solid outing in the Women's Shot Put as she collected a mark of 13.49m, just short of her 13.71m PR set last week.
• True freshman Jack Normand placed fifth in the Men's Triple Jump with his 13.93 mark.

NAU will take the next weekend off and return on Jan. 3th - Feb. 1st for the Mountain T's Invite, the third of four home indoor meets for the Lumberjacks. 

For more information on Northern Arizona men's and women's track & field, follow @NAUTrackFieldXC on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.