The Northern Arizona track and field program capped off a busy week in California with two new all-time top-10 school marks, giving the Lumberjacks 17 on the week.
The throwers concluded action at the Beach Invitational, while a handful of women's sprinters competed at the Mt. SAC Relays. The day before that, distance runners and jumpers were among the athletes competing at the Bryan Clay Invitational. And the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate event was last week as well.
Bryan Clay Invitational
Maggi Congdon broke her second Northern Arizona and Big Sky Conference record of the weekend, this time in the 1,500-meters with a time of 4:07.23 to place second overall. She broke her previous school record by .58 of a second (4:07.81). The day before, she broke the Northern Arizona and Big Sky record in the 800m with a time of 2:00.27. She topped Angela Chalmers' school record of 2:03.52, which has stood since 1987, and the Big Sky's record of 2:02.95, which has stood since 2011. She narrowly finished second overall in the field, finishing behind LSU's Michaela Rose, who ran 2:00.22.
Northern Arizona had three other athletes leap onto the all-time list in the women's 1500m as well, with Keira Moore clocking 4:18.01 to rank sixth all-time, Maisie Grice running 4:18.40 to rank seventh and Ava Mitchell clocking 4:19.45 to rank 10th all-time. Mitchell's was a personal best by over 10 seconds.
Odessa Zentz and Kiki Vaughn both launched themselves onto Northern Arizona's all-time top-10 list in the 800m. Zentz ran a personal best, crossing the line in 2:06.75 to now rank eighth all-time in program history. In her outdoor debut, Vaughn, a freshman, clocked 2:08.24 to rank 10th all-time
The women's 4x100m relay team made up of Jordann Germain, LiNay Perry, Kyairra Reigh and Shanye Harris teamed up to run the seventh-fastest time in program history at 45.45 to place seventh in the field.
Reigh then turned around and placed second in the 400m with a time of 53.90, and Harris placed 17th in the 100m, clocking 11.89.
Perry competed in the 400-meter hurdles and took second overall with a blazing time of 58.72, just shy of her personal best of 58.00. Katherine Lemish recorded a personal best in the same event, clocking 1:05.56.
Also, in the women's 400m, Jordann Germain ran a personal record of 55.69 to place 19th. Zentz placed fourth with a personal best of 56.66.
Germain led the Lumberjacks in the 200m with a time of 24.65.
On the men's side, Ford Washburn ran a nine-second personal best in the 1500m, crossing the line in 3:40.52 to place 14th overall in the invitational section. Clay Shively ran 3:49.32 in his outdoor debut in the event. In the elite section, Caleb Easton ran 3:49.87 and Corey Gorgas won his heat with a time of 3:42.27.
Drew Bosley competed in his first outdoor 5000m since the 2022 season and earned an eight-second personal best, clocking 13:17.06 to move from eighth to fifth on Northern Arizona's all-time list. David Mullarkey ran the first outdoor 5000m of his Northern Arizona career for a time of 13:29.55, good for 10th all-time in program history.
A handful of Lumberjacks also set personal bests in the men's 5000m in Santiago Prosser (13:35.94), Justin Keyes (13:37.90), Aidan Puffer (13:48.14), Emmanual Perez (13:52.62) and Randy Espinosa (14:01.59).
Luke Yruretagoyena was the top Northern Arizona finisher in the 400, setting a new personal best of 48.16. He also ran a PR in the 200m at 22.51.
A trio of men's 100m runners placed in the top 20, led by Kyle Smith (ninth, 10.66), Khamis Hassan (15th, 10.72) and Lamar Smith (16th, 10.73). Both Kyle Smith, Lamar Smith and Hassan also ran the 4x100m and placed sixth in 40.99.
Kyle Smith was the top finisher for the Lumberjacks in the 200m, placing eighth with a time of 21.27. Lamar Smith followed in 21.89.
Shon Martin led the way for the men in the 110m hurdles, placing 17th with a personal best of 14.57. In the women's 100m hurdles, Sydnie Watkins clocked 14.51 followed by Lemish in 14.63.
Over in the field events, Brenna Rodriguez placed 12th in the long jump with a leap of 5.70 meters, while Alexa Hamilton earned a 15th-place finish with a new personal best of 5.55 meters. Hamilton also placed 13th in the triple jump with a leap of 11.70 meters.
In the men's long jump, Ian Lipsey was the top Northern Arizona finisher, notching a 14th-place finish with a mark of 6.93 meters, followed by Malachi Marshall, who placed 17th with a jump of 6.83 meters.
Carter Anderson set a new personal best in the high jump after clearing 1.96 meters to place 12th. Christian Mutengela also cleared 1.96 meters and jumped 6.32 meters in the long jump.
Sirr Butler placed eighth in the triple jump with a leap of 14.49 meters.
Mt. SAC Relays
The women's 4x100m relay team set its second top-10 mark of the weekend, clocking 45.54 to rank ninth all-time and place 12th overall. The 4x400m relay team also put up a good showing, placing seventh with a time of 3:40.99.
In the women's 400m elite race, Kyairra Reigh notched a top-10 finish with a time of 53.16.
LiNay Perry ran 1:03.58 in the 400m hurdles, placing 16th.
Beach Invitational
Desmond Lott placed first in the discus throw with a mark of 55.02 meters. Amar Elmore also notched a top-five finish, placing fifth with his second PR of the weekend of 53.60 meters, good for 10th all-time.
Nikolas Strait threw 48.54 meters in the discus throw, while Trystan Gillis rounded things out with a toss of 42.90.
In the men's shot put, Lott placed 16th with a toss of 16.81 meters.
On the women's side, Larissa Francois threw a personal best of 12.75 meters in the shot put. Sariyah Horne-Kemp tossed 45.41 meters in the shot put.
Pacific Coast Intercollegiate
Before the Beach Invitational, the throwers competed at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate in Long Beach.
Strait threw two personal bests, starting with 51.09 meters in the hammer throw and 49.92 meters in the discus. Elmore was the top finisher for Northern Arizona in the discus, recording a personal best of 50.83 meters.
In the women's hammer throw, Horne-Kemp made it to finals and placed ninth overall with a toss of 58.32. She was also Northern Arizona's lone competitor in the discus, throwing 48.18 meters.
Northern Arizona heads back to Tucson for the Desert Heat Classic on Saturday, May 3, hosted by Arizona.
Golf
Northern Arizona wrapped up the third and final round of the Big Sky Conference championship tournament with a score of 289 for 5-over par, finishing with a total of 871 (+19), good for fourth place overall.
The championship, hosted by Northern Colorado, was held at the Wigwam Blue Course (par-71, 5,948 yards) in Litchfield Park, Arizona, for the second consecutive year.
Sacramento State successfully defended its title with a score of 853, winning by 15 strokes over Weber State, which went 3-under par on the day to jump two spots. Maddie Montoya of Montana State claimed the individual title by one stroke, finishing with a 2-under round for a 4-under par total of 209.
"Overall, I'm very proud of our team for how we performed the last few days," Lumberjacks head coach Brad Bedortha said. "We really struggled in the first round, but we bounced back the last two days and have shown that we are a really great team."
Amy Hodgkins led the Lumberjacks with a third-place finish, carding rounds of 72, 70 and 70 for a 1-under par total. She made three birdies in the final round, including back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th.
Nina Lukyanenko shot 72 (+1), finishing at 2-over par for the tournament and placing eighth -- the best finish of her career. She closed her round with back-to-back birdies. Frankie Dezis finished tied for 19th after a 3-over 74, which included four birdies, highlighted also by back-to-back birdies to end her round.
Sumin Kang shot a 2-over 73, improving by 10 strokes from her first-round score. She recorded birdies on the 3rd, 5th and 16th. Ava Bates rounded out the lineup with a 79 score, notching two birdies.
The Lumberjacks struggled on the par 3s, averaging 3.46 (+41), which ranked ninth out of 10 teams. Their par-4 scoring average was 4.26 (+27), good for fourth best. They excelled on the par 5s, averaging 4.77 (-17), second only to Sacramento State's 4.75 (-18). In total, Northern Arizona recorded 38 birdies and 137 pars.
"The past few weeks have been quite the journey, and I love how the team has come together to end on a great note," Bedortha said. "Amy had a great tournament and finished on the all-tournament team, and Nina played great and had her career-low round this week. It's been very exciting to watch them come together. The great thing is that we get everyone back next year, and I'm looking forward to learning more and being even more competitive next year. This is easily one of the top-three teams we've had at Northern Arizona, and I'm excited for the future."
Northern Arizona聽individual results
3 Amy Hodgkins 72+70+70=212 (-1)
8 Nina Lukyanenko 75+68+72=215 (+2)
T19 Frankie Dezis 75+73+74=222 (+9)
46 Lizzie Neale 75+74+SUB
50 Sumin Kang 83+SUB+73
51 Ava Bates SUB+83+79
Full results
1 Sacramento State +1
2 Weber State +16
3 Montana State +17
4 Northern Arizona +19
5 Idaho +35
6 Northern Colorado +41
7 Montana +43
8 Portland State +51
9 Eastern Washington +59
10 Idaho State +71