FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 11, 2020) – The Albuquerque Convention Center will be the site of a potential historic weekend for the Northern Arizona men's track & field team this weekend at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. There, the No. 2 ranked Northern Arizona men's track & field team will run for not only individual national titles, but to bring back the first track & field team national championship in program history.
The NCAA Indoor Championships begins on Friday in Albuquerque, N.M. and conclude on Saturday. It will mark the first time that the indoor meet will be held at altitude since 2014, when it was also contested in Albuquerque.
The Lumberjack men, ranked second in the USTFCCCA Division I Indoor rankings, will have a school record seven athletes – for the NCAA Indoor Championships – competing this weekend spread across the three distance events, the mile, 3000m and 5000m.
The mile semifinal will take place at 4:20 p.m. on Friday with the 5000m final slated for an approximate start of 6:20 p.m. The final for the mile will be 3:10 p.m. on Saturday with the 3000m final at approximately 5:10 p.m. All times are local to Flagstaff (MST).
The seven athletes will combine for 10 total entries in the meet, tied for second-most of any team, with seniors
Geordie Beamish (mile, 3000m) and
Tyler Day (3000m, 5000m) and junior
Luis Grijalva (3000m, 5000m) running in two events each.
Beamish, Day and Grijalva will all be making a return to the NCAA Indoor Championships for the second consecutive year. Beamish is the defending indoor mile national champion, while Day and Grijalva both ran the 5K last year. Between the indoor and outdoor seasons, Day and Grijalva will be making their fourth NCAA Track & Field Championship appearance, while Beamish will be making his third career appearance.
The three runners are in position to make a big statement for the Lumberjacks in the 3K holding the top three seed times. Grijalva (7:43.73), Beamish (7:44.67) and Day (7:45.70) not only rank first, second and third nationally this season, but also rank sixth, seventh and 12th respectively in the all-time collegiate top 15 for the event.
The 'Jacks will stack the entry list in the 5K with five of the 16 runners wearing the NAU Blue & Gold. Led by Day's American collegiate record time of 13:16.95, which also leads the country, NAU could also collect points in the 5000m.
Grijalva enters with the fourth-best 5K seed time of 13:29.74, while junior
Blaise Ferro (13:39.58), freshman
Abdihamid Nur (13:39.81) and sophomore
Ryan Raff (13:40.99) are seeded 12th, 13th and 16th respectively.
Last year, Beamish's big final kick secured his first individual national championship in the mile with a time of 4:07.69. This season, Beamish will enter with the fourth-fastest seed time of 3:56.90 and will aim to become only the third Lumberjack to be a two-time individual national champion joining NAU Hall of Famers Lopez Lomong and David McNeill.
Beamish will be joined in the mile by freshman
Theo Quax, who will be seeded 14th with a time of 3:58.13.
NAU has won four individual national championships at the NCAA Indoor Championships in program history with two coming in the last two years. Beamish's mile win last season followed
Andy Trouard's 3000m victory in 2018. Lomong won the indoor 3000m in 2007 and McNeill won the 5000m in 2010.
The Lumberjacks' best team finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships was 2010. NAU was in a tie for eighth that year with 18 team points, which is also the school record for points scored at the national indoor meet.
The 2020 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships will be streamed live on ESPN3 beginning at 4:15 p.m. on Friday and 3 p.m. on Saturday. A re-air will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 16 on ESPNU. All times are local to Flagstaff (MST).
Stay up to date with by following NAU Cross Country and Track & Field on
Twitter and
Instagram.
