FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 25, 2021) - Northern Arizona's men's and women's cross country teams will be traveling to Riverdale, Utah to compete at the Big Sky Conference Championships on Saturday, Feb. 27. Weber State will host the meet at Schneiter's Riverside Golf Course beginning with the women's 5K at 1:15 p.m. MST and the men's 8K at 2 p.m. MST. The award ceremony is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. MST.
The NAU men's team is currently ranked No. 2 in the USTFCCCA Division I National Coaches' Poll and the women's team is sitting at No. 16. The NAU men and women are currently the only Big Sky teams that are nationally ranked.
This spring, NAU's men and women have only faced two Big Sky teams: Weber State at the Silver State Collegiate Challenge and Southern Utah and the Battle Born Collegiate Challenge. The Lumberjack men defeated the Wildcats by 104 points, and the Thunderbirds by 91 points. While the NAU women beat Weber State and Southern Utah by 59 and 158 point deficits respectively. Each of these teams will be sending very similar lineups to conference championships Saturday.
Both NAU squads are the defending conference champions and are favorites to sweep both team titles once again.
After scoring 36 points to earn a team victory in Greeley, Colo. last year, the Lumberjack women have won three of the last four conference trophies, and lead the conference with a total of 21 team Big Sky championship wins.
The women return to the Big Sky meet with two top-10 runners from the 2019 lineup. Senior
Pipi Eitel (18:21.3) and junior
Taryn O'Neill (18:21.9) placed fifth and sixth respectively at last year's conference championship.
So far this season, O'Neill has been a key contributor to the women's team. Earlier this month, she earned Big Sky Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week after a first-place finish at the Silver State Collegiate Challenge in Las Vegas finishing ahead of six teams ranked in the top-25.
Last Friday, the Lumberjacks returned to Vegas for the Battle Born Collegiate Challenge, where O'Neill had another podium finish, securing third place, despite the five top-11 teams in the field.
But O'Neill is not the only women's runner who has been hustling; eight of the nine Lumberjack women competing alongside O'Neill have set personal bests this season, which has only included two meets.
Junior
Jessa Hanson is the only woman in the conference lineup who has yet to PR this season, and that is because she will be making her season debut at Big Sky Championships, after redshirting last year.
Redshirt sophomore
Jesselyn Bries, will also be returning to the conference championships, after placing seventh (16:52.0) in 2018 to earn Women's Big Sky Freshman of the Year.
At last year's conference meet, senior
Hannah Behunin and junior
Bryn Morley finished within the top-20, and senior
Delaney Rasmussen placed within the top-30. While this will be Rasmussen's fourth and final Big Sky conference meet, it will be Morley's third and Behunin's second.
Morley has historically performed very well at conference championships, finishing within the top-20 each year.
Although the NAU women have seasoned veterans in the field, they also welcome sophomore
Annika Reiss and freshman
Maggi Congdon. Reiss may be no stranger to collegiate cross country competition, but she is new to the Big Sky Championships.
As conference favorites, the women could not only place first as a team, but place first individually as well. The last time the NAU women had an individual champion was in 2017 when Paige Gilchrist won on this same course.
However, sophomore All-American
Drew Bosley is the reigning conference champion with a time of 26:50.8, earning the 2019 Men's Big Sky Freshman of Year Award, and leading the NAU men to a team trophy.
Bosley has the opportunity to defend his title and win for the second time in a row; an accomplishment that has only been achieved eight times in conference history. The last men's runner to win back-to-back crowns was Lumberjack David McNeill in 2009-2010. McNeill is also the last to win three straight titles (2009-11).
In total, the NAU men have had 28 individual champions and have won the last four conference meets, leading the Big Sky with 29 team victories.
The Lumberjack men's lineup also features two top-10 runners from last year's title team in redshirt sophomore
Brodey Hasty (26:56.2) and junior
Ryan Raff (27:06.2), who finished third and sixth respectively.
There seems to be an overwhelmingly positive attitude at Flagstaff's high altitude for these two cross country teams, as the NAU men are also breaking boundaries; seven of the eight men competing this weekend have set new 8K personal records during this short season.
Redshirt senior
Cade Burks is one of these men, shaving 7.6 seconds off of his previous best time to set a new record of 23:49.1 at the Battle Born Collegiate Challenge in Las Vegas. Burks will be competing in his third Big Sky Championship.
While this Lumberjack team is composed of men who have conquered conference championships, there are also several new faces in the mix. For instance, this will be All-American sophomore
Abdihamid Nur's first appearance at Big Sky Championships.
Nur has delivered extremely strong performances thus far, most recently placing first at the Battle Born Collegiate Challenge with a new personal best time of 22:30.6. Following Nur's achievement last Friday, he received the National Division I Men's Athlete of the Week Award presented by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Star freshman
Nico Young is another Lumberjack making his conference championship debut.
Named the top high school recruit in the nation, his collegiate career has been a success from the start.
Although Young has finished second in both meets he has entered this season, he has been the leading scorer for the men. Young was the first Blue and Gold jersey across the line at the Silver State Collegiate Challenge earlier this month and was awarded the Big Sky Men's Athlete of the Week. At last week's Battle Born Collegiate Challenge, Young finished just two-tenths of a second behind Nur, in a dominating team performance.
After redshirting last season, freshman
Caleb Easton and senior
Aldo Marquez will also be joining the Lumberjack men at the conference championships on Saturday.
No spectators will be allowed this weekend, but fans are encouraged to follow the Big Sky - @BigSkyConf - on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for race photos and video. Fans are also invited to follow and use the the hashtag #BigSkyXC on social media.
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