Did You Know...
* The Northern Arizona University athletics department ranked 133rd in the final Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings. The Lumberjacks scored at the men’s cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field NCAA Championships during the 2010-11 season. NAU ranked in the Directors’ Cup standings for the sixth consecutive season. NAU also finished 73rd in the inaugural Capital One Cup men’s standings.
* NAU finished third overall in the Big Sky Conference All-Sports Standings, winning the 2010-11 Big Sky Conference All-Sport men’s trophy and finishing fifth in the women’s standings. The Lumberjacks were third in the race for the Sterling Savings Bank Big Sky Conference Presidents’ Cup.
* The men's cross country team concluded the 2010 season with a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Since Eric Heins has taken over the distance program, his men's squads have finished in the top 10 all four seasons at the national championships, and have recorded eight top-10 finishes since 2000. Juniors Diego Estrada and Ahmed Osman finished 16th and 19th, respectively, to earn their first All-American Awards in cross country. Senior David McNeill closed out his Lumberjack career with his third-straight Big Sky and Mountain Region individual titles. The men's team won the Big Sky Championship for the fourth time in as many years and the women placed fifth overall.
* The 2010 Northern Arizona women’s soccer team won its first Big Sky regular season championship and hosted the conference tournament for the first time in program history. The Lumberjacks broke school and Big Sky records with a six-match shutout streak that last a record 569 minutes and two seconds, while also recoding a school record 12-game unbeaten streak. NAU’s 12 wins tied a single season school record, with the Lumberjacks allowing only four goals in their last-13 games. During the season, senior midfielder Brenna Boies broke the school record for career assists while junior goalkeeper Tori Rocke broke the career shutouts record and set single-season records for goals against average, fewest goals against, and winning percentage. Ten Lumberjacks earned All-Big Sky selections, with senior defender Kristi Andreassen named Defensive MVP and junior midfielder Chelsea Bednarz named Newcomer of the Year. Andreassen, Rocke, senior defender Tori Howe and junior midfielder Sam Monahan earned All-Big Sky first team selections. Andreassen and senior midfielder Brandi Carr were named to the CoSIDA/ESPN All-District Academic Team while Andreassen, Howe and Rocke were named National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Academic All-Americans. Andreassen would also earn CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-American honors and was named the Women’s Soccer CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All American of the Year, signifying her as the top women’s soccer student-athlete in the country.
* The Lumberjack women’s volleyball team ended the regular season 10-16 and seventh in the Big Sky Conference with a 6-10 record. The women posted a 7-4 record at home highlighted by a 3-0 mark at the 2010 Fiesta Bowl Tournament. The Lumberjacks placed first at their annual event winning matches over Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, Rider, and Maryland - Eastern Shore while producing the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, junior outside hitter Kobi Christensen. Sophomore Kelli Dallmann finished second in the Big Sky with 10.00 digs per set, and Anna Gott finished fourth in the conference with 4.39 digs per set. Dallmann earned All-Big Sky second-team after being named the league’s Most Outstanding Freshman during the 2009-10 season. Gott led all players in the conference with 16 consecutive games with 10 or more digs.
*For the second-straight season, the NAU track and field program was represented at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Sophomore Diego Estrada rewrote the indoor record book after running 13:29.01 for a fourth-place finish and the fastest 5,000-meter time in school history. He also placed 14th overall in the 3,000-meter run and led the team to a 39th-place finish. At the Big Sky Indoor Championships, the Lumberjack men finished second to Sacramento State in the closest finish in league history with the Hornets besting the squad by a half-point (133-132.5). The Lumberjacks totaled three individual champions with Estrada winning the 3K and Amber Anderson claiming the long and triple jump titles for the first time in her career. The men’s 4x400-meter relay team won its first title in eight years as Miles Di Sabella, Josh Heck, Mark Hughes and Adel al Nasser finished the race in 3:17.44. The women’s team concluded the event with a fifth-place finish.
* Northern Arizona swimming and diving turned in a third-place finish at the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championships this past February. The Lumberjacks collected 21 All-WAC awards during the four-day championship meet. NAU broke six school records and produced 41 top 16 individual finishes and five point-scoring relays. Sophomore Fi Connell repeated as the 200 backstroke champion, won silver in the 100 backstroke, and bronze in the 200 individual medley. Freshman Emma Lowther won a silver medal in the 1,650 freestyle in her first WAC meet. Sophomore Jaclyn Branning (200 breaststroke) and senior Lana Christensen (3-meter) collected bronze medals rounding out the Lumberjacks’ medal winners. NAU also sent six divers to the NCAA Zone Regional Championships, the most in school history. Christensen was the top finisher posting an 11th-place finish on 3-meter.
* Northern Arizona women’s basketball finished 11-18 during the 2010-11 campaign. The Lumberjacks went 6-10 record in the Big Sky Conference winning four of their last seven games. NAU placed seventh in the league but led the Big Sky in steals per game, 11.1, turnover margin, +3.4, and assist to turnover ratio, 0.9. Sophomore guard Amy Patton led the Big Sky Conference in scoring for the second straight year with 16.4 points per game. Patton finished No. 79 in NCAA Division I women’s basketball in the category. She upped her average during conference play scoring 16.8 points per game. Patton also reached 1,000 points in the final game of the year. Head Coach Laurie Kelly has seen two milestones pass her by over the last two seasons. This season, Kelly won her 100th game at NAU reaching the mark against her former team, Binghamton, at the Hilton Garden Inn Thanksgiving Tournament. At the end of the 2009-10 year, Kelly won her 200th career game against Portland State.
*The outdoor track and field season for the Lumberjacks concluded at the NCAA Outdoor Championships as junior Diego Estrada ran to a fifth-place finish in the 5,000-meter run (13:38.36) to give the program a tie for 46th place. Estrada concluded the 2011 track season with three All-America honors. Junior Pascal Tang also advanced to the outdoor championships in the hammer throw. NAU qualified 14 student-athletes to the West Preliminary Round Championships in Eugene, Ore., the most since 2006. The Big Sky Outdoor Championships saw the men take second place and the women eighth. Three Lumberjacks won individual titles as Estrada earned his first 5K title, junior Ahmed Osman won his third-straight 10,000-meter run and senior Andres Rossini earned his second-consecutive discus title. The regular season saw Estrada record the third-fastest 1,500-meter run time of 3:41.80 at the Mt. SAC Relays and senior Amber Anderson record the third-best long jump in outdoor history with a leap of 20 feet, 3.5 inches (6.19m).
Student-athletes, coaches and athletic department staff combined to volunteer and participate in 4,340 community service hours over the 2010-11 academic year, surpassing the 4000-hour mark for the second consecutive year and fourth time in the last five years. The Lumberjacks assisted with events like Red Ribbon Week, Welcome Back Jacks, St. Mary’s Food Bank and Flagstaff Earth Week.
In all, the department participated with more than 30 different organizations and events. The soccer program participated in more than 750 hours, while the swimming and diving program contributed 607 service hours during the year. Both programs averaged more than 21 hours per student-athletes to lead the department.
Academic Highlights
* Golden Eagle Distributors, Inc., honored 163 Northern Arizona University student-athletes for their scholastic and athletic accomplishments at the 33rd annual Golden Eagle Awards on Thursday. The Golden Eagle Awards recognize NAU student-athletes who have made significant contributions to the Lumberjack athletics program while maintaining a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average. The Male and Female Scholar-Athlete Awards were presented to senior track and field athlete Andres Rossini and senior soccer player Kristi Andreassen.
* The Northern Arizona University athletics department recorded a cumulative grade point average of 3.05 GPA among its more than 300 student-athletes at the completion of the spring semester. It marked the 14th semester out of the last 15 overall that the Lumberjack student-athletes have recorded a 3.00 cumulative GPA or higher. Since 1998, NAU student athletes have earned a 3.0 cumulative GPA or higher in 24 out of 26 semesters.
* The Lumberjacks had eight of their 15 intercollegiate teams record a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher led by women’s soccer at 3.39. Women’s cross country was close behind at 3.33, followed by volleyball (3.32), women’s basketball (3.26), women’s golf (3.25), swimming and diving (3.22), men’s tennis (3.13) and women’s outdoor track and field (2.99).
* The women’s soccer team had the best semester GPA at 3.45 in the spring of 2011, followed closely by women’s cross country (3.39), swimming and diving (3.36), women’s golf (3.22), volleyball (3.19), men’s tennis (3.18), women’s basketball (3.15), women’s tennis (3.09). Overall, eight of the 15 teams had a 3.0 or higher semester GPA.
* Five Lumberjack student-athletes were among the 45 graduating seniors that were recognized with the prestigious Gold Axe Award for the spring semester at a ceremony at the DuBois Center on the Northern Arizona University campus. The 2011 recipients include soccer’s Anna Clark and Tori Howe, swimming and diving’s Lana Christensen, women’s basketball’s Jenna Galloway and track and field’s Arshiya Hoseyni. The award is a tribute to outstanding academic performance, leadership and service to the community.
* Northern Arizona senior guard Cameron Jones was selected one of 10 finalists for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
* Soccer’s Kristi Andreassen were chosen for the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America® squads in 2010. Overall, eight student-athletes were honored on the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District teams over the last three seasons.
* All 15 sponsored sports are exceeding NCAA academic standards for the second straight year while the football program measured its fifth consecutive increase. The NAU football program has increased its APR rating in each of the last five academic years (872 to 953) and has the highest multi-year rate in the Big Sky Conference, earning the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Athletics Directors Association APR Award. The award is given to the highest APR score in each of the 14 FCS conferences.
