TEMPE, Ariz. (March 18, 2022) - Northern Arizona opened their outdoor track and field season with a bang on the first day of the Baldy Castillo Invitational.
Beginning the meet with the men's and women's hammer throw, Jack Murphy recorded a massive personal best mark of 59.44 meters to place fourth, while teammates Jacob Kaufman and Blake Baloun respectively threw 57.08m and 48.80m to finish seventh and 13th overall.
Meanwhile,
Kimberly Buchanan (53.96m),
McKenna Chaney (51.01m) and
Jennifer Slater (50.27m) sequentially placed fifth, ninth and tenth in the women's hammer throw.
The throws squad also competed in the women's and men's discus, with
Matilde Roe (47.41m) and Rudy Tapia (49.59m) finishing highest for the Lumberjacks, each respectively placing seventh;
Carly Watts (46.02m) also finished ninth for the women, while
Jake Arnold (47.67m),
Garret Bernt (47.45m), and Jay Neilsen (45.55m) placed 11th, 12th, and 13th for the men.
Later, the sprinters and hurdlers took the track, with
Trenton Givens qualifying for the men's 110-meter hurdle finals tomorrow with a time of 14.33 in his outdoor debut; on the women's side,
Madeline Wilson set a 100-meter hurdles personal best time of 14.15 as well.
The Lumberjack men continued to cruise on the track, as
David Dunlap and Erick Thompson ran personal best times of 20.91 and 21.69 to finish second and 18th amongst the collegiate field .
Zachary Sutton and
Kyle Smith also opened their outdoor seasons with times of 21.77 and 22.02;
Alex Alton (22.30) and
Matthew Roma (23.61) competed in the men's 200m as well.
In the women's 200-meter dash,
Alyssa Colbert ran 24.61,
LiNay Perry finished in 24.98 and
Synfanie Crudder crossed the line at 25.67 to open their outdoor careers, while seasoned veteran
Miracle Onyemaobi ran 24.83.
The Lumberjacks competed in the 3000-meter run to cap off the evening, with
Annika Reiss (9:38.59),
Elise Stearns (9:39.29),
Bryn Morley (9:39.53),
Jesselyn Bries (9:41.35),
Cassi Land (9:51.06),
Alexis Kebbe (9:54.50),
Nikita Moore (9:55.58)
Victoria Gaitan (9:57.30),
Anna Fenske (10:02.93),
Meagan Van Pelt (10:05.09),
Maggi Congdon (10:06.74), and
Jenna McCaffrey (10:13.39) running a tactical women's race.
Followed by a similarly planned men's race, with
Brodey Hasty (8:05.65),
Jack Shea (8:13.37),
Cael Grotenhuis (8:19.37),
Randy Espinoza (8:20.98),
Aldo Marquez (8:22.47),
Aiden Barnhill (8:34.70), and
Jordan Black (8:42.61).
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