FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 22, 2023) – The Northern Arizona University track & field teams are traveling to Moscow, Idaho where they will compete at the Big Sky Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Both the men's and women's teams are defending Big Sky champions, with the men winning the past ten years and the women the past two. The men's decade of dominance has seen them earn the highest score in Big Sky championships history during the 2012 conference championships. The women's score last season was also the highest team score in conference championships history.
During the Friday field competition, the Lumberjacks will have competitors in the men's and women's long jump, women's weight throw, men's high jump, and men's shot put. In the running events, NAU will have competitors in the preliminary rounds for the sprinting and middle-distance events as well as the men's and women's 5000-meter and distance medley relays.
Saturday's competition will feature the men's weight throw, men's and women's triple jump, women's high jump, and women's shot put for the field events. It will also feature the finals for the sprints and middle-distance events, as well as the finals for the mile, 3000-meter, and 4x400-meter relays. A detailed schedule can be found on our website.
In the jumping events, NAU has many of the conference's top athletes.
Brenna Rodriguez is ranked second in long jump for the women, with a season best mark of 5.79 meters.
Mitchell Effing leads the conference for the men with a jump of 7.84 meters.
Ian Lipsey and
Jack Normand are also highly ranked, coming in at seventh and eighth with marks of 7.09 meters and 7.08 meters respectively. Normand is also ranked fifth in the high jump, with a season best mark of 2.03 meters. Effing is second in the conference in the triple jump, with a school record breaking jump of 15.81 meters.
Sirr Butler is ranked fourth in the event, while Normand is ranked sixth and freshman
Malachi Marshall is eighth.
For the throwing events, the 'Jacks also have many highly ranked athletes.
Alaina Diggs is ranked second in the shot put and ninth in the weight throw. She has season best marks of 14.83 meters in the shot put and 16.78 meters in the weight throw, each achieved at the last meet of the regular season. Freshman
Sariyah Horne-Kemp is also highly ranked in the weight throw, coming in at eighth with a mark of 16.89 meters.
The men also take up a lot of spots on the conference's leaderboard.
Parker Bays is second in the shot put and fourth in the weight throw with marks of 17.69 meters and 19.16 meters respectively.
Desmond Lott is also ranked in both events, coming in at second with a throw of 20.45 in the weight throw and eighth in the shot put with a mark of 16.51 meters.
John Murphy is ranked first in the weight throw after breaking the NAU school record with a throw of 21.40 meters in the last home meet of the season.
Jake Tucker rounds out the top-10 of the shot put rankings with a season best mark of 16.40 meters.
The running events are just as strong, with NAU leading the conference in many events.
David Dunlap leads the conference in the 60-meter, 200-meter, and 400-meter. Dunlap's times in each event set new school records, with his 200-meter and 400-meter times also setting new conference records.
Alyssa Colbert also set new school and conference records this year in both the 60-meter and 200-meter. Not to be outdone,
Drew Bosley set conference records in the 3K and 5K, with his 3K time of 7:36.42 also setting a new collegiate record. Also for the distance group,
Elise Stearns ran the 5K for the first time in the indoor season this year and immediately set a new school and conference record. Rounding out the new conference records set this year by the Lumberjacks was the women's 4x400-meter relay team, who ran a time of 3:37.89.
NAU leads the conference in nearly every track event, which will make the team extremely competitive as they aim to repeat as conference champions. Highlighting the running events for the women will be Colbert and Stearns, as well as
Kyairra Reigh,
Maggi Congdon, and
Annika Reiss. Leading the charge for the men will be Dunlap and Bosley, along with
Nico Young,
Trenton Givens, and
Brodey Hasty.
The Lumberjacks will compete on Friday and Saturday, with the meet begin streamed on ESPN+. Live results for Friday can be found
here, while live results for Saturday can be found
here. Field events on Friday will begin at 4:05 p.m. MST with races beginning at 4:00 p.m. MST. Field events on Saturday will begin at 11:15 a.m. MST with races beginning at 12:25 p.m. MST. Stay up to date with NAU Cross Country and Track & Field by following us on Twitter and Instagram.
