McNeill Honored After Record-Breaking Weekend
OGDEN, Utah – The Big Sky Conference announced Tuesday afternoon that senior runner David McNeill of Northern Arizona was named Men's Track Athlete of the Week. This is the first outdoor award for McNeill in 2010, and fourth overall this year.
McNeill travelled with Interim Director of Track and Field & Cross Country Eric Heins to Palo Alto, Calif., to take part in the Stanford Invitational 5,000-meter run this past Friday. Leading most of the race, McNeill took off from Nike professional runner Juan Carlos Romero with 800 meters left to cruise into the finish line in a conference and school-record time of 13:25.63.
The Australian native was the previous outdoor 5K record holder for the Big Sky and NAU with a time of 13:30.63, which he recorded last April at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif.
McNeill also recorded a Commonwealth Games qualifying-mark with his school-record time, which puts him in a position to represent his home country of Australia in Delhi, India this October.
The Lumberjacks have the weekend off then resume the outdoor season with a trip down south to compete in the Mesa Classic and Sun Angel Invitational April 9-10.
