FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (May 10, 2022) – Northern Arizona, the defending Big Sky men's and women's outdoor track and field champions, will travel to Pocatello, Idaho for the 2022 conference championships on May 11-14. Live results and a live stream by ESPN+ will be provided.
The last time outdoor conference championships were hosted by Idaho State was in 2007, where the NAU men found their first and only Pocatello, Big Sky victory with 155.5 points; this will be the men's fifth trip to Idaho State in program history. Meanwhile, the Lumberjack women will return to Pocatello for the fourth time in history, and pursue their first town title.
In 2021, the NAU men and women dominated in Ogden, respectively scoring a total of 168 points, the most by a men's team since their success in 2016, and 201 points, becoming the third women's team in Big Sky history to score over 200 points.
This season, The NAU men and women seek their 24th and 13th respective outdoor titles, their second consecutive outdoor program sweep, and their sixth outdoor sweep in history. If the Lumberjacks sweep the outdoor titles this weekend, it will be the first time since 2016 that the program will have claimed the cross country, indoor, and outdoor Big Sky trophies in the same calendar year, a feat that has only been accomplished by this program on one other occasion in 2014.
On Wednesday, Madeline Wilson will begin the women's heptathlon, competing in the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, and 200-meter dash; the women's heptathlon will conclude with the long jump, javelin, and 800-meter run on Thursday afternoon. Wilson's point total of 4795 from last month currently sits seventh in the conference this season, however Wilson has posted strong marks outside of heptathlon competition this spring that may bode well for her and the team when the final standings are presented.
Team competition will commence on Friday morning, as Jennifer Slater opens with the women's hammer at 9 A.M. (PT), followed by Jake Arnold, Parker Bays, and Rudy Tapia in the men's shot put at 11:30 A.M., and the women's long jump at 12:30 P.M. with Lily Margolis, Kenashalee Kerr, Courtney Weisenberger, and Jenna Figueroa; Slater (53.95m) currently ranks seventh in the Big Sky, while Arnold (17.73m) and Bays (16.96m) respectively hold third and sixth this season.
The track will begin with Jenna McCaffrey and Nikita Moore in the women's steeplechase at 12:50 P.M., followed by women's discus with Matilde Roe at 1 P.M., and men's and women's 1500-meter preliminaries (1:10 P.M./1:30 P.M.) with Abdihamid Nur, Nico Young, Theo Quax, Caleb Easton, Brodey Hasty, Bryn Morely, Elise Stearns, Annika Reiss, Maggi Congdon, and Cassi Land. McCaffrey (10:29.46) and Moore (10:29.91) currently rank fifth and sixth in the conference, while Roe (51.11m), the defending women's discus champion, ranks second, and the men's and women's distance crew each hold four of the top-six event slots this season; Nur (3:36.33) broke the men's 1500-meter Big Sky record several weeks ago at the Bryan Clay Invitational.
The meet schedule will continue with the men's 110-meter hurdle and the women's 100-meter hurdle prelims (1:55 P.M./2:10 P.M.) with Trenton Givens, Wil Peralta, Wilson, and Marissa Milos; Givens (13.84) and Peralta (14.48) respectively rank third and seventh in the conference while Wilson (14.15) holds sixth this season.
At 2:40 P.M., Miracle Onyemaobi, LiNay Perry, Kyairra Reigh, and Hannah Schmidt will compete in the women's 400-meter dash prelims, followed by the men's and women's 100-meter dash preliminaries (3 P.M./3:20 P.M.) with David Dunlap, Kyle Smith, Zachary Sutton and Alyssa Colbert; Onyemaobi (54.53), Dunlap (10.35), and Colbert (11.84) all currently rank first in their respective events this season, while Perry (55:06) and Reigh (55.37) hold fifth and eighth.
The field events will wrap up with Trevor Hook in the men's javelin, and Mitchell Effing and Sirr Butler in the men's long jump at 3:30 P.M.; Hook (64.18m) holds sixth in the conference this season, while Effing (7.59m) ranks third.
Meanwhile, the 800-meter preliminary races will feature Quax, Easton, Congdon, Morely and Melanie Loff (3:40 P.M./3:55 P.M.), Alex Alton will compete in the men's 400-meter hurdle prelim at 4:15 P.M., and Dunlap, Sutton, Erick Thompson Jr., Colbert, Onyemaobi, Perry, and Wilson will run the men's and women's 200-meter preliminary races (4:50 P.M./5:05 P.M.); Quax (1:50.46) currently ranks sixth this season, while Loff (2:05.56) and Congdon (2:06.32) respectively hold first and second, Alton (52.41) sits fifth, Dunlap (20.57) and Thompson Jr. (21.51) rank first and eighth, and Colbert (24.12), Onyemaobi (24.44), and Perry (24.45) hold first, sixth, and seventh. Congdon and Dunlap also respectively look to defend the women's 800-meter and men's 200-meter conference titles.
Friday evening will conclude with the men's and women's 10,000-meter run, the only track event final on the day (5:25 P.M./6:05 P.M.); Ryan Raff, Jack Shea, Drew Bosley, Aldo Marquez, Delaney Rasmussen, Alexis Kebbe, and Meagan Van Pelt will compete for the Lumberjacks; Nur (28:17.33) and Raff (28:56.36), the defending champion, rank first and fifth in the Big Sky this season.
On Saturday morning, Jacob Kaufman, Will Beaudry, and Jack Murphy will throw the men's hammer at 8:30 A.M., followed by Jack Normand in the men's high jump at 10 A.M., women's shot put with Roe at 10:30 A.M., and women's triple jump at 11 A.M. with Kerr, Figueroa, Margolis, and Weisenberger; Kaufman (61.77m), Murphy (61.70m), and Beaudry (59.62m) rank 5-6-7 in the conference this season, while Normand (2.02m) and Roe (14.13), the defending Big Sky Champion, respectively sit sixth, and Kerr (12.40m) and Figureoa (12.28m) hold second and third on the leaderboard.
Men's discus with Beadury, Tapia, Arnold, CJ McMullen, and Jay Neilsen will begin at 12 P.M., followed by men's triple jump with Effing, Normand, and Butler at 1:45 P.M., and Jade Kwinn and Piper Pfister in the women's javelin at 2:15 P.M.; McMullen, Nielsen, Beaudry, and Tapia hold four of the top-seven Big Sky slots this season, while Effing (15.45m) and Normand (14.79m) respectively rank fourth and seventh, and Kwinn (45.02m) sits fourth in the conference.
The track will take off at 1 P.M. and 1:15 P.M. with the men's and women's 4x100-meter relays, followed by all event finals, including the men's and women's 5,000-meter run (4 P.M./4:25 P.M.) with Bosley, Quax, Hasty, Nur, Young, Shea, Raff, Marquez, Easton, Stearns, Reiss, Rasmussen, Moore, Land, McCaffrey, Kebbe, Van Pelt, Jesselyn Bries, and Jessa Hanson; Nur (13:06.32), the defending champion, and new collegiate record holder ranks first in the Big Sky this season, alongside Young (13:11.30), who recently set the new No. 3 all-time collegiate 5K mark, and Bosley (13:25.90) who sequentially hold second and third in the conference this season. Meanwhile, these NAU women own six of the top-eight slots on the Big Sky leaderboard heading into this weekend. The meet will conclude with the men's and women's 4x400-meter relays.
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