NEW ORLEANS, La. (March 27, 2020) – A historic 2020 indoor season landed Director of Cross Country and Track & Field Mike Smith the honor of National Men's Coach of the Year on Friday as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
Smith becomes the first Lumberjack coach in the program's tradition-rich history to receive National Track Coach of the Year honors. Smith, in his fourth year leading the NAU track & field programs, is also a two-time recipient (2017, 2018) of the Bill Dellinger Award given to the National Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year.
He is also the first coach from a non-Power 5 Conference to earn the honor in award history, dating back to at least 1994.
Smith's award completes the trifecta for the indoor season having previously earned Big Sky and Mountain Region Coach of the Year honors. Smith was voted both the Men's and Women's Coach of the Year in the conference while his regional Coach of the Year award was his eighth of his career.
The NAU men reached historic heights in 2020, earning the program's first-ever No. 1 national ranking in the USTFCCCA Indoor Rankings. The Lumberjacks sat atop the national poll for two weeks before taking a No. 2 ranking into the NCAA Indoor Championships, where NAU would have had a school record seven male athletes compete.
Junior
Luis Grijalva and senior
Tyler Day, who was named the
National Men's Track Athlete of the Year on Wednesday, recorded the nation's fastest times in the 3000m and 5000m respectively this indoor season. Senior
Geordie Beamish would have entered the NCAA Indoor Championships as the defending national champion in the mile, while sophomore
Theo Quax (mile), junior
Blaise Ferro (5000m), sophomore
Ryan Raff (5000m) and freshman
Abdihamid Nur (5000m) would have been first-time NCAA participants.
Day, Grijalva and Beamish also inserted themselves into the all-time best collegiate marks this indoor season starting with Day setting a new American collegiate record in the 5000m. Grijalva, Beamish and Day's best times this season placed them sixth, seventh and 12th respectively all-time in the 3000m as NAU became the second program with three different men in the all-time top 15.
Smith guided the Lumberjack men to their ninth consecutive Big Sky Indoor Championship and 23rd in program history last month in a landslide. NAU recorded five event wins on the way to 141.5 points, significantly outpacing runner-up and host Idaho State's 89.5 points.
A total of 11 Lumberjack men earned all-conference honors at the Big Sky Indoor Championships.
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