FARMINGTON, Utah (Feb. 3, 2025) – Following a historical weekend, three Northern Arizona track and field athletes have earned Big Sky Conference Athlete of the Week awards for their performances over the weekend.
Elise Stearns and
Colin Sahlman earned men's and women's Track Athlete of the Week, while
Garret Bernt claimed men's Field Athlete of the Week honors.
Bernt earns the nod for the second time this season and fifth time in his career. Sahlman earns the award for the first time this season and second time overall, and Stearns earns her first indoor weekly honor. This season, six different Lumberjacks have collected seven weekly honors.
Stearns placed 10
th overall in the 5,000-meters at the prestigious BU John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston, Mass., where she broke the NAU and the Big Sky Conference all-time record for the second time in her career, clocking 15:21.43 for a personal best of 12 seconds. Her time leads the Big Sky and is the eighth-fastest in the nation.
Not be outdone –
Alexandra Carlson also broke Northern Arizona's and the Big Sky's all-time record in the 3,000-meters at the Terrier Classic with a time of 8:53.77. Carlson earned Big Sky Athlete of the Week honors two weeks ago when she ran the fourth-fastest mile time in the country.
Stearns, a Missoula, Mont., native ran a previous Big Sky and NAU record of 15:33.74 back in December of 2022 in Boston. The record stood until December 7, 2023, when current teammate
Ali Upshaw ran 15:27.86 in Boston, setting a new conference and school record until Stearns took the record back on Friday. The duo ranks first and second all-time in program and conference history.
A year after breaking the Big Sky Conference's and Northern Arizona's all-time record in the mile with a time of 3:53.17 at the BU John Thomas Terrier Invite, Sahlman did so once again on Saturday. He clocked 3:52.82 for a new personal best, conference and Northern Arizona school record, finishing sixth overall in the field.
He won the event last year and finished as the second top collegian this year – as the top collegian in the 2025 field, Ethan Strand, broke the collegiate indoor record in the mile (3:48.32) in the same heat.
Sahlman then turned around and ran 8:02.34 in the 3,000-meters to place 36
th in the field. He currently leads the Big Sky in both events, and his mile time is the sixth-fastest in the country currently.
For the third-straight meet, Bernt won the men's weight throw. He tossed 22.61-meters, coming up just short of his current season best of 22.62-meters which is the 10
th farthest throw in the nation so far this year and leads the Big Sky. He is the current Big Sky and NAU record holder in the event with a mark of 23.09-meters, thrown at the 2024 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships where he finished third.
Northern Arizona has a week break from competition before resuming action at the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash., and the Don Kirby Classic in Albuquerque, N.M., on Feb. 14-15.
