NEW ORLEANS, La. (February 17, 2020) – A week ago, the Northern Arizona men's track & field team cracked the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) top 10 indoor rankings for the first time in program history. One week later, the Lumberjack men rose to new heights as they come in at No. 1 in the NCAA Division I Men's Indoor Track & Field rankings released on Monday.
The Lumberjacks' first-ever No. 1 indoor ranking comes on the heels of NAU's historic performance in Boston this past Saturday at the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational. In the men's 3000m, junior
Luis Grijalva, senior
Geordie Beamish and senior
Tyler Day registered this season's top three fastest times in the country, all of which landed in the all-time collegiate top 15 times.
Grijalva (7:43.73), Beamish (7:44.67) and Day (7:45.70) not only rank first, second and third in the nation this season, but they are sixth, seventh and 12th all-time in the men's 3K by collegiate runners.
In addition to the 3000m, NAU also owns the nation's fastest 5000m time this season with Day leading the country with a time of 13:16.95. NAU is one of two schools along with Tennessee (high jump, long jump) with multiple top marks nationally this season.
Grijalva (13:29.74) and Beamish (4:56.90) also own top five marks in the 5K and mile respectively this season, while junior
Blaise Ferro (13:39.58), freshman
Abdihamid Nur (13:39.81) and sophomore
Ryan Raff (13:40.99) rank 11th, 12th and 15th respectively in the 5K. Additionally, freshman
Theo Quax (3:58.13) is 13th nationally in the mile.
In the mile, 3000m and 5000m, the Lumberjack men are the top event squads based on four-athlete averages. Also of note, NAU's weight throwers are the seventh-best event squad nationally with sophomore
William Beaudry leading the group at 40th individually at the national level.
Right behind NAU, who jumped nine spots from No. 10 to No. 1, are LSU, Florida, Texas and Oregon in successive order.
