The Northern Arizona men's and women's cross country teams concluded their seasons at the Division I national championship meet on Saturday morning in Madison, Wisconsin.
The women placed fourth with 206 points, while the men finished fifth overall with 237 points. It is the third-highest finish in program history for the women, who finished second in 2023 and third in 1991. They notched just their third top-five finish in program history.
The men have been in the top-five for 11 consecutive seasons.
BYU swept the team championships.
The Northern Arizona women finished behind champions BYU (147 points), West Virginia (164 points) and Providence (183 points). Northern Arizona finished ahead of Oregon (210 points) to round out the top five.
Ali Upshaw and Elise Stearns earned All-American honors after finishing 22nd and 36th, respectively. Upshaw crossed the line in 19:53.8 while Stearns earned her third career All-American honor with a time of 20:01.8.
The women led the field the whole way until the 5K mark when BYU and West Virginia each made moves. Lumberjacks runner Keira Moore crossed the line in 20:18.4 to finish 60th, while Maggi Congdon (71st, 20:23.8) and Alex Carlson (84th, 20:27.7) rounded out the scoring.
The men started slow but made up ground late. Sitting at 14th place through 1K, Northern Arizona had worked its way up to ninth at the halfway point before dropping to 10th at the 7K and 8K marks. Between the 8K and 10K, Corey Gorgas kicked into gear and rose 26 spots to 60th, helping the Lumberjacks improve to fifth right before the end.
Both David Mullarkey and Santiago Prosser earned All-American status for Northern Arizona. Mullarkey led the way with an 18th-place finish in 29:11.9 while Prosser clocked a time of 29:24.7 to finish 38th. Gorgas, Colin Sahlman and Justin Keyes all scored for the Lumberjacks. Gorgas crossed the line in 29:36.5 to finish 60th, followed by Sahlman who was 67th in 29:40.3 and Keyes in 86th with a time of 29:49.9.聽聽
The Lumberjacks will now turn their attention to the 2024-25 indoor track and field season, which features four home meets in addition to the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships that the Lumberjacks will host in February. The first meet, the Friday Night Axe' Em Open, is set for Jan. 10 at the Walkup Skydome.
Women's basketball
Northern Arizona won its fourth consecutive game on Saturday, defeating Colorado State 84-80 in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Guard Taylor Feldman was instrumental in the win, earning her first career double-double with a career-high 25 points and 12 rebounds, flirting with a triple-double as she added six assists.
Forward Sophie Glancey also earned her third double-double of the year, collecting 19 points and 10 rebounds to go with three assists, three blocks, and a perfect 7 for 7 from the foul line. Three more players scored 10 or more points -- guard Nyah Moran (11), guard Olivia Moran (10) and forward Saniyah Neverson (10).
The Lumberjacks dominated the boards, winning the rebounding battle 49-37 with 16 offensive rebounds.
"The team put together a solid 40 minutes on both ends of the floor. They played together and played with incredible toughness," said Lumberjacks coach Loree Payne, who now needs just four more wins to break Northern Arizona's all-time record for victories. "Taylor had a huge game production wise and hit some big shots down the stretch. Sophie was also able to get open looks in the second half and capitalized on them. A total team effort tonight."
Northern Arizona (5-1) will visit St. Petersburg, Florida, for its first game of the St. Pete Showcase on Thursday against James Madison.