OGDEN, Utah (May 14, 2021) - Northern Arizona wraps up day three of the Big Sky Championships with seven total podium performances; the men currently have 40 points and sit in third place while the women have 47 points and currently rank first. There will be 13 NAU men as well as 13 women advancing to tomorrow's finals.
To start the morning, the women began with hammer throw, scoring 11 total points in the event.
Sophomore Jennifer Slater stepped up in a major way, entering the conference championship meet ranked 14th, and finishing third oval with a throw of 55.24 meters. Freshman McKenna Chaney also had a big day, beginning the day in eighth place, and finishing in fourth behind Slater with a mark of 54.84 meters.
The women also secured five points in the long jump, with freshmen Kenashalee Kerr and Lily Margolis jumping 5.75 meter and 5.71 meters to finish sixth and seventh respectively in event finals. Kerr and Margolis will compete again tomorrow in the women's triple jump.
Women's discus featured a gold medal performance from junior Matilde Roe and seventh place finish from freshman Carly Watts, banking 12 points in the event.
Heading into the meet, Roe ranked first on the Big Sky leaderboard and maintained her dominance throughout the event to finish in first place with a mark of 49.68 meters and earn ten points for the NAU women. Watts joined the finals alongside Roe picking up an additional two points.
Meanwhile, the women's track events opened with the 3000-meter steeplechase run by lone Lumberjack, senior Mikayla Malaspina. Running a time of 10:31.58, Malaspina scored six points and grabbed a bronze medal.
The senior definitely has her eyes on the team title, as Malaspina returned later the same night, just over six hours after the steeplechase, to compete in the women's 10000-meter run.
Malaspina and senior Delaney Rasmussen ran laps around the track as the sun set in Ogden. In the end, Rasmussen ran 35:56.75 to place fourth with Malaspina finishing in fifth with a time of 36:11.10, picking up nine points for the NAU women.
As for the men, seniors Parker Joens, and Nicholas Coghill, along with sophomore Jake Arnold and freshman Parker Bays all advanced to shot put finals to collect 20 points for the Lumberjack men, with Joens (18.17m) placing second, Arnold (18.03m) in third, Coghill (17.76m) finishing fourth and Bays (16.98m) securing eighth.
The men's long jump saw freshman Mitchell Effing qualify for finals and finish third overall in the conference, contributing six points to the men's team total. Effing will compete again tomorrow in the triple jump.
In the final men's event of the night, senior Aldo Marquez and juniors Ryan Raff and Brodey Hasty ran the 10000-meter.
Hasty led the pack to start the race before Raff slid in front to take the wind for the remaining laps. Only relinquishing his position once, Raff continued to lead the NAU men straight through the finish line, with a time of 29:54.76, winning the race and securing ten points for the team.
While Hasty and Marquez were close behind, finishing in 30:31.43 and 30:53.09 to place sixth and eighth, earning four collective points.
At the conclusion of day three, the NAU women hold first place with 47 points and the men sit third with 40 points.
Leading into tomorrow, the team standings are tight, with the women's Weber State team in second with 46 points, and Idaho State in third with 40 points. As for the men, Weber State currently leads with 77 points, and Montana in second place with 51 points.
Friday primarily consisted of preliminary races, of which the Lumberjacks conquered.
The men's 1500-meter race saw six NAU men qualify for finals; seniors Luis Grijalva(3:47.17), Cade Burks (3:51.84), junior Theo Quax (3:51.25), and freshman Nico Young (3:47.31), Abdihamid Nur (3:47.90), and Kang Nyoak (3:52.09) controlled the race.
Grijalva also ran a final qualifying time of 1:51.23 to earn a place in the men's 800-meter race tomorrow, along with senior Ryan Lanley (1:51.61).
Men's hurdler, senior, Carter Bracken pushed himself to the limit qualifying for both the 110-meter hurdles (14.47) and the 400-meter hurdles (52.83).
Junior David Dunlap also qualified in dual events, running 10.68 in the men's 100-meter dash and 21.20 in the men's 200-meter dash.
Senior Erick Thompson also made it into the men's 400-meter final (49.04).
On the women's side, freshman hurdler Kiana Kai fought to the finish to earn qualifying marks in the 100-meter hurdles (14.31) and the 400-meter hurdles (1:00.97).
Recovering from the women's heptathlon is freshman Madeline Wilson who also snuck into the women's 100-meter hurdles by one-hundredth of a second (14.33).
The women's 100-meter dash saw senior Jada Jackson (11.90) and freshman Kenya Coburn (12.01) qualify for finals; Coburn made the final by the skin of her teeth, qualifying by one-hundredth of a second as well.
Jackson (24.68) ran her heart out tonight, qualifying for the women's 200-meter race as well, with senior Miracle Onyemaobi also making the mark (24.72).
Additionally, Onyemaobi ran a time of 55.92 in the women's 400-meter preliminary race to punch her ticket to the final tomorrow.
Junior Melanie Loff competed in the women's 400-meter as well, qualifying for finals with a time of 55.24.
Loff also led the Lumberjack women in the 800-meter race, running 2:11.08, with freshman Maggi Congdon following at 2:09.45, senior Hannah Behunin finishing with 2:11.54, and sophomore Bryn Morley rounding out the pack with 2:12.24.
The Lumberjack men and women will return to Weber State's Stewart Stadium and Chick Hislop Track tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. MDT/8:30 a.m. MST, beginning with the men's hammer throw, for the final day of Big Sky Championship competition.
