On a hot and windy evening, the Northern Arizona track and field teams found success at the final-regular season meet of the year. The Lumberjacks were in action at the Desert Heat Classic in Tucson over the weekend, hosted by the University of Arizona.
LiNay Perry broke her own school record in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking 57.53 to become the first Lumberjack in program history to break 58 seconds in the event. Also in the 400m hurdles, Janelle Sanchez ran a near-personal best of 1:02.72 and Brooklyn Grizzell ran the ninth-fastest time in program history at 1:03.
In the women's 100m hurdles, Sydnie Watkins ran a blazing time of 13.72 for a new school record, followed by Katherine Lemish in 14.52 and Jadyn Montgomery in 14.75.
The men's 4x100-meter relay team ran the fastest time in program history, clocking 39.66 to break a program record that has stood since 1988 of 39.79.
The women's 4x100-meter relay team ran the fourth-fastest time in program history in 44.88.
Alexandra Carlson finished second in the 1,500-meters, setting a meet record and a personal best of 4:14.73, which ranks fifth all-time in NAU history. In his outdoor debut, Colin Sahlman won the 1500m with a time of 3:39.41.
Sariyah Horne-Kemp threw a personal best of 60.10 meters in the hammer throw -- which ranks third all-time at NAU -- placing fifth overall. Ronan Gallagher (52.07m) and Larissa Francois (47.99m) also tossed personal bests, while Jamie Price threw 49.10 meters to place all four women's hammer throwers in the top 20.
Horne-Kemp also earned a 10th-place finish in the discus throw, tossing 47.29 meters, while Francois threw another personal best in the shot put of 13.64 meters.
Also moving up a spot in the men's hammer throw was Desmond Lott with a personal best of 65.27 meters, which is fourth all-time. Nikolas Strait also threw a personal best of 56.33 meters, followed by Grant Wade with a personal record of 51.83.
Lott also threw a personal best in the discus throw, tossing 56.65 meters, which now ranks fifth all-time in program history. Amar Elmore tossed a personal record of 52.62 meters in the discus as well. In the shot put, Lott made finals and placed ninth with a toss of 17.61 meters.
Josiah Johnson ran a personal best of 50.87 in the men's 400m hurdles to rank second all-time in program history, just shy of the school record of 50.78. Cannon Booker ran a personal best in the 400m hurdles as well, crossing the line in 52.68, which is 10th all-time. Nicolas Martinez ran a personal record of 53.07.
Ethan Godsey won the 3,000-meters with a time of 8:29.18 in his outdoor debut. Jackson Elliott followed, finishing fourth in 8:55.61.
Carter Anderson had a huge personal best in the high jump, clearing 2.01 meters to place 10th.
In the men's 110m hurdles, Tyson Givens clocked 14.04, followed by Shon Martin (14.09) and Josiah Johnson (14.22). Zachary Taylor rounded things out with a personal best of 14.57.
Brenna Rodriguez was the top NAU finisher in the long jump, placing 26th with a mark of 5.71 meters. She also led the way in the triple jump with a leap of 11.74 meters. On the men's side, Ian Lipsey leaped 7.31 meters in the long jump, while Malachi Marshall (7.29m) and Madinko Hawley (7.09m) each recorded personal bests in the event.
In the women's 400-meters, Kyairra Reigh was just shy of her personal best, running 52.83. On the men's side, Luke Yruretagoyena ran a PR of 48.07.
Also in the sprints, Shanye Harris clocked a wind-aided time of 11.56 seconds in the 100m, followed by Jordann Germain (11.83), Ariel Haygood (11.98) and Alaynah Reed (11.98). On the men's side, Kyle Smith ran 10.30, followed by Khamis Hassan (10.46), Lamar Smith (10.58), Ian Lipsey (10.68), and Zachary Sutton (10.83).
All four competitors in the women's 200m ran under 25 seconds, led by Shanye Harris, who hit 24.31. Kyle Smith ran 20.89 in the 200m, followed by Lamar Smith in 21.85.
Trevor Hook made the finals in the javelin event, throwing 65.16 meters to place eighth.
In the distance events, Kiki Vaughn ran 2:08.34 in the 800m, followed by Odessa Zentz, who crossed the line in 2:10.28.
The women's 4x400-meter relay teams ran 3:41.41 and 3:49.70, while the men's ran 3:13.87 and 3:16.34.
Northern Arizona will now prepare for the Big Sky Conference outdoor championship meet May 14-17 in Sacramento.
Golden Eagle
Student-athletes, head coaches and staff gathered last week to celebrate the Northern Arizona Athletic Department's academic success. The 47th annual Golden Eagle Awards, presented by Ginny L. Clements, were highlighted by men's basketball's Ryan Abelman and soccer's Joey Lujan, as they earned the evening's top honors as the department's top scholar-athletes. A total of 243 student-athletes across all 15 sports were honored.
The Golden Eagle Awards were first presented in the spring of 1979 as a way of honoring student-athletes who maintained high levels of scholastic achievement while performing with distinction in the university's athletic programs. At the event, it was announced that the awards will change its name next year to the William M. "Bill" Clements Academic Awards presented by Ginny L. Clements.聽
All Lumberjacks holding a minimum of a 3.00 cumulative GPA or better are eligible for the award, presented to student-athletes who have made significant contributions in athletics as well as in the classroom.
Abelman, who hails from Las Vegas and is majoring in biomedical sciences, just completed his third year on the men's basketball team and is currently serving on the Division I Men's Basketball Student-Athlete Engagement Group as the only Big Sky Conference representative.
He is a three-time Golden Eagle Scholar and a two-time Big Sky All-Academic team member.
Athletically, he averaged 4.9 points per game while shooting 42.2% from the field, starting 17 of the 33 games he played.
Lujan is a native of Gilbert and will graduate this week with her bachelor's degree in health sciences, public health after two seasons on the women's soccer team.
She was a two-time Golden Eagle Scholar and a two-time member of the All-Big Sky Academic Team. On the field, she started in 36 of her 37 career matches at Northern Arizona, coming in as a junior transfer from Kansas State. Lujan tabbed two goals in her junior season, including a Big Sky championship match goal to earn All-Tournament team honors. As a senior, Lujan added three more goals and an assist to her stat line, earning the final Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week honors in the 2024 campaign. Lujan closed out her NAU career garnering All-Conference honors for making the second team.