FARMINGTON, Utah (Feb. 17, 2025) – Following a historic weekend in Seattle, the Northern Arizona men's and women's track and field team have earned a pair of Big Sky Athlete of the Week honors.
The women's distance medley relay team made up
Agnes McTighe,
Kyairra Reigh,
Alexandra Carlson and
Maggi Congdon earn women's track Athlete of the Week honors, while
Colin Sahlman earns his second men's track Athlete of the Week honors of the season and the third time in his career.
On Friday at the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., the women's DMR team made history by running the third-fastest DMR time in NCAA history, clocking 10:39.44 to also break Northern Arizona's and the Big Sky Conference's record. NAU, BYU (1
st, 10:37.58) and Stanford (2
nd, 10:38.93) all broke the previous collegiate record, with Northern Arizona's time beating the record by four seconds. The quartet crushed the previous Northern Arizona and Big Sky Conference record of 11:13.18 that was set by Katja Rosenplaenter, Monique Young, Elin Wiik and Johanna Nilsson in 2006.
Sahlman had a great weekend at the office, cruising to personal bests in both the 800-meters and the 3,000-meters. On Friday night in the 3,000-meters, he ran the fifth-fastest time in NAU history at 7:41.41 to place fifth overall in the event. He turned around on Saturday afternoon and won the men's 800-meters, breaking his own school record and setting a new Big Sky record of 1:46.40.
It's the second Big Sky record Sahlman has broken this year, as he re-broke the indoor mile record in Boston in early February with a time of 3:52.82. Currently, Sahlman ranks seventh nationally in the 800-meters, ninth in the mile, and 15
th in the 3,000-meters, leading the conference in all three events.
In addition to the DMR and Sahlman's new conference records, Congdon and
Elise Stearns also broke Big Sky records in the mile and the 3,000-meters, respectively, as well with Congdon and Stearns setting meet records.
Congdon won the mile, breaking her own Big Sky Conference and NAU record by three seconds, crossing the line in 4:27.77 for a new Husky Classic meet record. Carlson ran the second fastest time in program and conference history, clocking 4:29.14 which would've beaten Congdon's previous school record (4:30.24). The duo are the only two in Big Sky and NAU history to break 4:30 indoors in the mile.
Stearns shined in the invite section of the 3,000-meters. She placed third overall with a time of 8:41.07, setting a new NAU and Big Sky Conference record. Stearns was not even on Northern Arizona's top ten list in the 3,000 prior to Saturday, breaking her previous personal best of 9:21.50. She breaks her current teammate Carlson's previous Big Sky and NAU record of 8:53.77 set earlier this season.
In the same race,
Karrie Baloga also put on an impressive showing, jumping from sixth to second all-time on NAU's top ten list, running 8:52.33 which also would've broken Carlson's record.
The regular season finale is set for Friday, Feb. 21 at the Skydome for the NAU Tune-Up meet.
