Northern Arizona Earns 10 All-Big Sky Conference Honors, Sit in First after Two Days of Competition

DAY TWO RESULTS

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Feb. 28, 2025) – The Northern Arizona men's and women's track and field teams saw a successful first day of competition at the 2025 Big Sky Conference Indoor Championships. The Lumberjacks are hosting the three-day event in the Skydome in Flagstaff, Ariz.
 
The meet started yesterday with the multi-events, but the 'Jacks took the stage today. Through six scored events both the men and women are in first. The women lead the way with 52 points, ahead of Montana State who is in second with 49.5 points. On the men's side, the Lumberjacks have 71 points, 20 points ahead of MSU who has 51.
 
On the day, the Lumberjacks earned 10 All-Conference honors and won five Big Sky Conference titles. Northern Arizona swept the 5,000-meters with Drew Bosley and Ava Mitchell taking home the gold. Both the men's and women's distance medley relay teams won, and Desmond Lott took home the weight throw title with a new meet record.
 
Sariyah Horne-Kemp (second, weight throw), David Mullarkey (second, 5k), Ali Upshaw (second, 5k), Garret Bernt (second, weight throw) and Ian Lipsey (second, long jump) also earned spots on the podium.
 
Additionally, Northern Arizona set nine new all-time top ten marks.
 
Northern Arizona placed five athletes inside the top eight of the men's 5,000-meters. Bosley turned on a great kick and won the 5,000-meters with a time of 14:17.17 with Mullarkey right behind him in 14:20.86. Santiago Prosser finished fifth in 14:40.44 and Erik Le Roux placed seventh in 14:41.40. Cael Grotenhuis was the final scorer, placing eighth in 14:56.58. Aidan Puffer placed ninth, clocking 14:57.12.
 
The Lumberjacks dominated in the women's 5,000-meters as well. Mitchell won in 16:45.25 and she was followed by Upshaw who edged the third-place runner in 16:47.04. From there, the Lumberjacks placed 4-5-6-7-8-10-11. Anna Fenske was in fourth with a time of 17:02.13 and she was followed by Hayley Burns (5^th, 17:13.53), Alexis Kebbe (6^th, 17:23.95), Maisie Grice (7^th, 17:35.15), Nikita Moore (8^th, 17:35.46), Alyson Churchill (10^th, 17:37.98), and Keira Moore (11^th, 18:08.80).
 
In the distance medley relay, the team of Caleb Easton, Tyson Givens, Kang Nyoak, Colin Sahlman teamed up to run 9:54.43 to win, good for 10^th all-time in NAU history. The women set a new top ten mark in their win as well, as Karrie Baloga, Taylor Jacobs, Emma Stutzman, Maggi Congdon crossed the line in 11:46.25 which ranks eighth in program history.
 
After finishing runner up last year, Lott won the weight throw with a meet record of 22.83-meters for a new personal best that ranks second all-time. He broke Bernt's meet record, who placed second this season with a toss of 22.52-meters. Nikolas Strait also earned points in the event, placing fourth with a personal best of 19.21-meters.
 
In the long jump, Ian Lipsey placed second with a personal best leap of 7.48-meters that ties for fifth all-time in NAU history. Also in the jumps, Carter Anderson earned points in the high jump after clearing 2.04-meters for a new personal best to finish fourth, just missing the podium.
 
Sariyah Horne-Kemp earned all-conference honors in the women's weight throw, finishing second overall. She saved her best throw of the season for last, tossing a personal best of 19.16-meters which ranks fifth all-time in program history. It's her second-straight All-Big Sky honor indoors as she finished third in 2023-24. Ronan Gallagher also earned a point for the 'Jacks in the weight throw, finishing eighth with a toss of 17.08-meters.
 
All three male 60-meter hurdlers are on to tomorrow's finals. Tyson Givens ran a personal best of 7.94 seconds that ranks sixth all-time in program history, finishing fourth in the prelims. Shon Martin ran 8.07 to finish sixth, and Josiah Johnson snuck in after running a personal best of 8.08 seconds.
 
Sydnie Watkins also advanced to the finals in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing third overall with a time of 8.47, just off her personal best school record of 8.44.
 
In the 400-meters, Josiah Johnson and Joshua Anderson advanced to the finals. Johnson clocked 47.82 to finish seventh and Anderson ran 48.00 to finish eighth, earning a new personal best. Luke Yruretagoyena just missed finals, finishing ninth in 48.04.
 
The women's 400-meters will be the event to watch tomorrow, as three Lumberjacks advanced to tomorrow's finals after going 1-2-3 in the event. LiNay Perry finished first in the prelims with a personal best of 52.79, good for second all-time in NAU history. In fact, Perry is just the second Lumberjack in program history to break 53 seconds in the event. Kyairra Reigh finished second with a time of 53.02, just shy of her all-time best of 53.00. Maggi Congdon is also on to tomorrow's finals, finishing third with a personal best of 53.89 seconds which is good for sixth all-time.
 
Perry and Reigh also advanced to the finals in the women's 200-meters. Perry clocked a personal best of 23.68 that now ranks third all-time to place second overall and Reigh finished fourth with a season best of 23.95.
 
Three Lumberjacks are on to tomorrow's finals of the men's 800-meters. Ford Washburn ran a personal best of 1:51.24 for a new personal best to place second. Colin Sahlman finished fourth in 1:52.22 and Kang Nyoak, in his first 800-meters this season, placed seventh in 1:52.12.
 
Northern Arizona will be well-represented in the women's 800-meters as well, as five 'Jacks qualified for the finals. Elise Stearns, in her first 800-meters this season, ran a personal best of 2:10.84 to take the top time into tomorrow's field. Alex Carlson finished second, crossing the line in 2:12.14. Kiki Vaughn finished fourth in 2:11.57, Odessa Zentz was fourth in 2:12.43 and Agnes McTighe rounded out the competition with a seventh-place finish in 2:12.68. Emma Stutzman just missed the finals, finishing ninth in 2:13.01.
 
In the men's 200-meters, Lamar Smith just missed out on finals but ran a personal best of 21.71 seconds.
 
Northern Arizona resumes competition at 10 a.m. Mountain Standard tomorrow. The meet is broadcast on ESPN+, and tickets are available at nauathletics.com/buy.