McNeill Shatters School Record in 3,000m
SEATTLE, Wash. – Senior All-American David McNeill of the Northern Arizona track and field team ended the open races at the Husky Classic with a bang when he scorched past the field in a time of 7:47.52 to win the men’s 3,000-meter race. The national-leading mark set by McNeill also gives him the school indoor record previously held by former indoor 3k National Champion Lopez Lomong (7:49.74).
McNeill also broke the course record at the Dempsey Indoor facility set last year by Oklahoma State's German Fernandez (7:47.97).
“Two weeks ago, I
couldn’t even do 3k of tempo running,” an elated
McNeill said. " It would have been easy for me to say ‘I
don’t want to come to Washington because I am not
prepared,’ but I knew that racing and training are different,
so I came here and gave it a go. It worked out I guess.”
McNeill was also thrilled to have broken the school record
previously held by his former teammate Lomong.
“I kind of feel bad for erasing such a legend’s name
from the board, but he still has a few other ones there, so I
don’t feel too bad,” joked McNeill. “It is
special to be able to say that you have broken an Olympian and U.S.
flag-bearer’s indoor record. It is one of the career
highlights for me.”
Interim Director of Track and Field & Cross Country Eric Heins
was excited to see McNeill run the record-setting time, especially
after his rough transition back to altitude at the beginning of the
season.
“David is just an amazing athlete,” Heins said.
“He came back from winter break and had a little bit of a
rough transition back to Flagstaff. I think we did too much with
his training and got a little bit fatigued. No previous workouts
said that he could go out and run that time today, but you know
once he gets onto the track he will put up a great
performance.”
Six other Lumberjacks aside from
McNeill raced today on the campus of the University of
Washington.
Junior Jordan Chipangama gave it a go in the mile invite today at
the Husky Classic, collecting an NCAA provisional qualifying mark
of 4:01.75. Senior Nell Rojas (3k), junior Astrid Leutert (3k) and
sophomores Ahmed Osman (3k) and Darius Terry (mile) all collected
Big Sky qualifying marks in their respective events.
Also performing outside of Flagstaff on Saturday was senior
thrower Javier Villarreal who came up with a mark of 17.52m
(57-05.75) to finish sixth overall in the men’s shot put at
the Iowa State Classic.
The women’s squad placed five
more members into the championship meet Saturday at the Walkup
Sydome, and had over a dozen other Lumberjacks improve upon
season-best marks at the NAU Invitational. The women now have the
maximum 22 qualifiers, and the men are still looking to round out
their postseason roster with one more member.
The five members from the women’s squad to qualify for the
Big Sky Championships were sophomores Jenne Childs, Simone Holder
and Lisette Michaels, Chanda Penney and freshman Torin Shriver.
Child’s turned in a qualifying time in the 60-meter hurdles,
finishing fifth overall in a time of 9.11. In the 60-meter dash,
Holder clocked a time of 7.86, hitting the Big Sky qualifying mark
on the dot. The duo of Shriver (11:01.63) and Michaels (11:04.83)
qualified in the 5,000m event via their 3,000m times. They finished
second and third, respectively.
Penney became the fourth women’s jumper to qualify for the
Lumberjacks in the triple jump after she leaped 37-7.75.
The Lumberjacks conclude their regular season next Friday when the
host the NAU Tune Up. The meet is scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m.
MST.
