FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (November 28, 2022) – Northern Arizona University's Director of Cross Country and Track & Field, Mike Smith, has been awarded the Bill Dellinger Award as he was named the USTFCCCA National Men's Coach of the Year.
This is the fifth time that Smith has been named National Men's Coach of the Year, and the third consecutive year. Smith is only the second person to win this award three years in a row, this was previously achieved by John McDonnell of Arkansas in 1998, 1999, and 2000. He was also named the Mountain Region Men's Coach of the Year.
Smith led NAU to their sixth national title in the past seven years, five of which he was the head coach for. The men tied with Oklahoma State, both teams scoring 83 points, before winning the tiebreaker.
Although they began the season ranked first in the nation and saw an easy victory at the George Kyte Classic, the men struggled throughout the regular season. After not seeing the dominant performances, they had in the past, the Jacks fell to third on the national poll, their lowest ranking since 2016.
In their season opener at the Goerge Kyte Classic, the men scored only 15 points as they placed 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. Two weeks later, they traveled to the Coaching Tree Invitational where they took the top three spots en route to a third-place finish.
In their first look at the nationals course, the men placed third at the Cowboy Jamboree with a total of 110 points.
Nico Young finished fifth, while
Drew Bosley placed ninth. Throughout the entire season neither Young nor Bosley finished outside of the top-10, with Young's fifth place finish being his lowest placing all season.
Traveling to Madison, Wisc. for the Nuttycombe Invitational, the men placed third behind rivals Stanford and BYU. The Lumberjacks garnered 145 points as they finished off the regular season.
After a short break the NAU men were back with a lot to prove as they headed into the postseason. They stormed their way to their 31
st Big Sky Conference title, scoring 19 points to tie for the second lowest score in conference championships history. Young earned the individual title, outpacing his competition by nearly 26 seconds.
Young went on to win the individual title at the Mountain Regionals as well, leading the team to a first-place finish as they scored 43 points. Bosley finished in second place, finishing only .1 seconds behind Young. All five scorers finished in the top-17, easily earning an automatic big to nationals.
The Lumberjacks had a lot of momentum heading into the National Championships, but there were still a lot of outside doubts. The team ultimately claimed victory as they won in a tiebreaker against hosts Oklahoma State. All five scorers earned All-American honors, with the Lumberjacks being one of only two teams to achieve this. Young and Bosley placed second and third, respectively, racing as part of the lead pack for the entirety of the race.
Santiago Gomez-Prosser earned his first All-American honor as he finished 19
th in his best effort of the season.
Brodey Hasty and
George Kusche both became two-time All-Americans as they finished 25
th and 39
th respectively, helping push the Jacks past Oklahoma State.
During his time at NAU, Smith has preached about the importance of team culture and trusting the process to reach the next level. Never has the significance of this been more visible as the men persevered through the early hardships of the season to earn a national championship.
