Lumberjacks Wrap Up Successful Weekend at Beach Invitational
NORWALK, Calif. – After a long and successful weekend in the Los Angeles, Calif., area, the Northern Arizona track and field team will head back to Flagstaff having nearly filled out its entire postseason roster. After the weekend that saw the squad take part in three meets, the Lumberjacks have 23 men and 21 women set to represent NAU at the Big Sky Outdoor Championships in Ogden, Utah.
Interim Director of Track and Field & Cross Country Eric Heins is pleased with how his team performed this weekend and the progress they are making late into the regular season.
"Looking back on the entire weekend, I feel that every event area produced great results," Heins said. "I feel confident in the training and attitude of our athletes that we are headed in the right direction towards the conference championships and postseason."
Heins is also glad to see so many athletes record marks that put them in place to advance beyond the Big Sky Outdoor Championships.
"I think it says a lot about the history and tradition of NAU track and field that our athletes from all over continue to improve their marks," Heins said. "We are looking to take a large contingent of athletes to the national championships. From Curtis (Durocher), Andres (Rossini), Javier (Villarreal), Nell (Rojas), Amber (Anderson) Ahmed (Osman), Diego (Estrada) and David (McNeill), it shows a balance in all areas of our team."
The Lumberjacks picked up qualifiers in nine events today, including sophomores Joe Withers (steeplechase), Ciara Williams (100-meter hurdles), Lisette Michaels (5,000-meter run and 10,000-meter run) and redshirt freshman Dom Gionvannoni (110-meter hurdles) who reached a qualifying mark for the first time this season.
Senior Nell Rojas (1,500-meter run) and juniors Kam Holbrook (800-meter run), Rashida McKinnon (200-meter dash) and Shekila Wilkinson (400-meter dash) will represent NAU in multiple events at the conference championships with their times from today.
In the field events Saturday, throwers Andres Rossini (discus) and Javier Villarreal (shot put) recorded huge marks that move them into the top 10 of their respective events in the region.
Villarreal returned to Mt. SAC to compete in the men's invitational shot put flight and recorded a season-best mark of 17.98m (58-11.75) to move into eighth place in the West Region.
With a lifetime-best throw of 56.32m (184-9.25), Rossini won the men's discus open at the Beach Invitational. The personal-record hurl for the Argentina native moved him up two spots in the regional rankings to No. 13.
Both throwers hold top marks in their events in the conference.
After the weekend in California, the Lumberjacks have two meets remaining on the regular-season slate, including a final trip to Tempe for the Sun Devil Invitational next weekend, and the Arizona Shoot Out in Tucson May 1.
