FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (June 22, 2022) — The Northern Arizona track and field program is proud to send six current athletes and two alumni to the USATF Outdoor Championships, as they compete for an opportunity to join Team USA for the upcoming World Athletics Championships.
Garret Bernt, Alyssa Colbert, and Jade Kwinn have qualified for the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships and are scheduled to compete June 23-25, while All-Americans David Dunlap, Abdihamid Nur, Nico Young and NAU Alumni and U.S. Olympians Brooke Andersen and Lopez Lomong will compete at the USATF Outdoor Championships on June 23-26. Live results and live streaming options will be provided for the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships and the USATF Outdoor Championships.
These meets will serve as the selection event for both 2022 World Athletics Championships; the two highest placing finishers in each individual event at the 2022 USATF U20 Outdoor Championships will be named to the U.S. Team and travel to Cali, Columbia on August 1-6 to compete at the 2022 U20 World Athletics Championships, while the top-three individual finishers with the world standard at USATF Outdoor Championships will join Team USA in Eugene, Ore. on July 15-24 for the 2022 World Athletics Championships.
Thursday (Bernt-U20, Kwinn-U20, Andersen)
Thursday's focus will be on the field for Lumberjack fans, as Bernt, Kwinn, and Andersen will respectively compete in the men's hammer (12:30 p.m.), women's javelin (2:15 p.m.), and women's hammer (5 p.m.).
Anderson, now with NIKE and the Ironwood Track Club, became professional in 2018. Earlier this season, she threw a personal best of 79.02 meters to claim the No. 4 All-Time women's hammer throw record. At Olympic Trials last year, Andersen placed second, securing her spot on Team USA alongside Deanna Price and Gwendolyn Berry where she managed to finish 10th in Tokyo during her Olympic Games debut with a throw of 72.16 meters; Price (NIKE / New York Athletic Club) and Berry (PUMA) will be in the field on Thursday as well.
Kwinn also had quite the season herself, earning gold in the women's javelin at Big Sky Championships with a personal best throw of 49.32 meters and finishing 39th at NCAA west regionals (42.18m).
Bernt competed in four meets during the outdoor season as well.
Friday (Colbert-U20)
Meanwhile, Colbert will be the only NAU athlete competing on Friday, as she prepares for the first round of the women's 100-meter dash at 1:52 p.m. (MST); event finals are scheduled for 4:29 p.m. (MST).
Colbert, with an incredible freshman campaign, finished 30th (11.62) in the event at NCAA West Regional Preliminaries, and earned gold in the 100-meter dash at Big Sky Outdoor Championships, setting a new conference, conference championship and NAU record with a time of 11.33.
Colbert has swept both the indoor 60-meter and 200-meter as well as the outdoor 100-meter and 200-meter Big Sky Conference titles, with two of her three personal best performances stemming from championship environments; she also swept the indoor and outdoor Big Sky Women's Freshman of the Year awards.
Saturday (Dunlap, Colbert-U20, Bernt-U20)
However, both Colbert and Bernt will compete again on Saturday; Colbert will run in the first round of the women's 200-meter at 3:24 p.m. and Bernt will throw the men's discus at 5 p.m. (MST). Dunlap will compete on Saturday as well, with the first round of the men's 200-meter dash at 11:45 a.m. (MST). Event finals for the U20 women's 200-meter are respectively scheduled for 5:29 p.m. while semi-finals and finals for the men's 200-meter will be on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. and 2:38 p.m. (MST).
Colbert finished 45th (24.37) at this year's regional meet, and championed the event at Big Sky Championships (23.65w), while Dunlap, the Big Sky men's indoor and outdoor most valuable athlete and 200-meter champion, placed 14th (20.51) at NCAA Championships.
Sunday (Nur, Young, Lomong)
Sunday will feature a star-studded men's 5,000-meter race, with Nur, Young, and Lomong at 2:03 p.m. (MST); the men's 200-meter semi-final and final races have also been scheduled for 12:30 p.m. and 2:38 p.m. (MST).
Lomong, the two-time Olympian, turned professional in 2007, and runs for NIKE and the Bowerman Track Club. He is a five-time USA Outdoor Championship title holder across the 1500-meter, 5K, and 10,000-meter; In 2019, he won his second consecutive 10K USATF Outdoor Championship race, finishing first in the 5K as well, and becoming the first to double in two national championship events since 2012.
Meanwhile, Nur and Young are fresh out of the collegiate season, respectively finishing third in the 10K (28:14.51), and third in the 5K (13:28.62) at NCAA Championships; Nur set the collegiate 5K record earlier this season with a time of 13:06.32, while Young posted 13:11.30 to earn No. 3 on the collegiate All-Time leaderboard.
