FARMINGTON, Utah (June 8, 2023) – Behind seven championships among their eight Big Sky Conference sponsored women's programs, Northern Arizona University claimed the Big Sky Women's All-Sport Trophy for the third consecutive year and 11th time in school history.
The Lumberjack women's 11th All-Sport Trophy is the most in league history. The 'Jacks won their 10th last year and snapped their tie with Weber State for the most. In addition to earning the distinction for the third-straight year, NAU has now claimed the Women's All-Sports Trophy for the fifth time in the last six times it has been handed out. The trophy was not awarded in 2019-20 due to COVID-19.
The Women's All-Sports Trophy standings are determined by a formula that takes into account each school's regular-season finish or conference tournament/championship result for all conference-sponsored sports the institution offers. Basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball and tennis awards points based on regular-season finishes, while points for track & field, cross country and golf are awarded based on conference tournament/championship results. Indoor and outdoor track & field points are averaged to create one score for track & field.
Helping secure the All-Sports Trophy were the women's cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams who all won Big Sky Championships. Women's soccer brought home both the regular season and tournament championships to round out a successful Fall. Women's basketball secured a share of the regular season title and advanced to the Big Sky Championship game. In the Spring, women's tennis was perfect in Big Sky play to earn a regular season title and were Big Sky Tournament runners-up.
Not to be forgotten even though they did not factor into the All-Sport Trophy standings, the swimming and diving team captured their 10th straight WAC Championship in February. Head diving coach
Nikki Kelsey earned her ninth Coach of the Year honor after the 'Jacks placed six out of eight divers in the finals of both the 1m and 3m events, while also scoring the most points in WAC championship history.
Also factoring into the All-Sports Trophy standings was women's golf who finished fourth at the Big Sky Championships. Volleyball finished ninth in the conference standings.
NAU posted a score of 8.6 to easily top the Women's All-Sports Trophy standings, outdistancing Montana State's runner-up score of 7.1. Sacramento State was third with a score of 6.4. A full list of the 2022-23 Women's All-Sports Trophy results is below.
Cross country kicked off the year by winning the program's 23rd Big Sky title and the fourth-straight. The Lumberjacks won the championship handily with 22 points, 47 points better than the second-place team. This was the lowest conference championship score since the NAU women won in 2002 with a score of 18 points.
Elise Stearns won the individual title after making her move in the last mile to take the lead, finishing with a time of 16:25.3. All five NAU scorers were named to the 2022 Big Sky Women's All-Conference Team. The 'Jacks would go on to finish sixth at the National Championships.
Women's soccer won 10-straight matches to help secure both the regular season and tournament championship for the first time in program history. The 'Jacks defeated Idaho in penalty kicks to advance to the NCAA Tournament where they put up an outstanding effort before falling to No. 1 UCLA, 4-1. Head coach
Alan Berrios was named Big Sky Coach of the Year and seven Lumberjacks were placed on All-Conference teams.
Women's basketball finished with a 13-5 Big Sky Conference record and were 21-14 overall, the most wins since 2006-07. The 'Jacks clinched a share of the Big Sky regular season title along with Montana State and Sacramento State, earning the No. 1 seed for the tournament. NAU advanced to the championship game for the second-straight year and although they came up short, the Lumberjacks made history with program's first-ever WNIT appearance. Head coach
Loree Payne was named Big Sky Coach of the Year and
Regan Schenck and
Montana Oltrogge were named to All-Conference teams.
Also highlighting the winter action was the women's indoor track and field team who won the conference title after scoring 200.50 points, the highest point total in conference championship history.
Alyssa Colbert and
Annika Reiss each took a share of the Co-Women's Most Valuable Athlete after helping the 'Jacks win their third-straight indoor title.
Track and field's success carried into the outdoor season where the squad once again clinched the outdoor title for the third-straight season to complete the calendar sweep. The Lumberjacks scored 192 points, while Colbert was named Most Outstanding Performer and Reiss earned Co-Most Valuable Athlete. Director of track and field and cross country,
Michael Smith, won three Big Sky Coach of the Year nods.
Rounding out a successful year for Northern Arizona was the women's tennis team who clinched the regular season after finishing an unblemished 8-0 in Big Sky play. The Lumberjacks, who were ranked as high as No. 52 by the ITA during the season, came up short in the Big Sky Championship game to Weber State.
Patrycja Niewiadomska was named Big Sky Freshman of the Year and four more earned spots on All-Conference teams.
This year's Women's All-Sports Trophy win follows four straight wins from 1996-2000 and wins in 2005-06 and 2013-14 before the Lumberjacks' current stretch of five of the last six starting in 2016-17.
2022-23 Women's All-Sports Trophy Results
1. Northern Arizona – 8.6
2. Montana State – 7.1
3. Sacramento State – 6.4
4. Weber State – 5.7
5. Portland State – 4.9
6. Idaho – 4.7
7. Eastern Washington – 4.3
8. Northern Colorado – 4.2
9. Idaho State – 3.8
10. Montana – 3.6
