NEW ORLEANS, La. (March 25, 2020) – In a fitting end to a storied career, senior
Tyler Day was named the 2020 Division I National Men's Track Athlete of the Year for the indoor season by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Wednesday.
Day is the first-ever NAU men's cross country/track & field athlete to receive a National Athlete of the Year honor, and just the second Lumberjack athlete ever. In 2005 and 2006 respectively, Johanna Nilsson was named the National Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year and National Women's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
Day is also the first athlete from the Big Sky Conference to earn the honor and the first distance runner to do since Oregon's Edward Cheserek in 2016.
Day had a historic final indoor season and was poised to possibly capture his first career individual national title at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships before the championships were canceled.
The senior distance runner out of Gilbert, Ariz. was a double national qualifier in the 3000m and 5000m and was set to enter the NCAA Indoor Championships with top three seeded times in both events.
At the BU John Thomas Terrier Classic on Jan. 24, Day turned in a record-breaking performance in the 5000m, running a new American collegiate record time of 13:16.95. Day broke Galen Rupp's previous American collegiate record and his performance placed him third all-time behind only Lawi Lalang and Stephen Sambu.
Day returned to Boston, Mass. for the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Feb. 15 where he once again clocked a new personal record in the 3000m. His time of 7:45.70 was the third-fastest time this season – behind only teammates
Luis Grijalva and
Geordie Beamish who ran alongside Day in Boston – and ranks 12th all-time.
Two weeks later in what wound up being his final collegiate meet, Day helped the NAU men win their ninth consecutive Big Sky Indoor Track & Field Championship and 23rd all-time in Pocatello, Idaho. Day took third in the 3000m and ran the anchor leg of the Lumberjacks' conference championship meet record Distance Medley Relay team. The 'Jacks broke the previous meet record set 40 years ago by more than 11 seconds with a time of 9:42.57.
Day's achievements landed him on The Bowerman Watch List for The Bowerman, presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female track & field athletes in the country. He also became the fourth Lumberjack to ever record Mountain Region Men's Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.
The National Men's Track Athlete of the Year award is the latest accolade for Day as his collegiate career concludes. Day was part of NAU's three National Championship Cross Country from 2016-18 and was a seven-time All-American between the three seasons (cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field).
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