Colonnelli Records Personal Record in Discus at Sun Devil Open
TEMPE, Ariz. – After a week in which the weather caused throws practices to be cancelled due to snow, Northern Arizona sophomore thrower Patrick Colonnelli recorded a seven-foot personal record to win the men's discus throw on a sunny Saturday afternoon at the Sun Devil Open. It was the final meet that the Lumberjacks will compete in at Arizona State this season.
"We use this meet as an opportunity to qualify athletes in other events, which we were able to do," Interim Director of Track and Field & Cross Country Eric Heins said. "We also improved on some marks giving us an opportunity to defend our Big Sky Conference championship. Pat's performance today is inspiring because he worked so hard to contribute to the team, and it is people like him who help the team win championships even though they do not get a lot of recognition."
Colonnelli, a native of Carlsbad, Calif., recoded the winning mark of 50.13m (164-06) on his fifth throw of the day. With the new personal-best mark, Colonnelli jumps from No. 8 in the Big Sky, to fourth in the event.
Junior Shelby McCray also recorded a new PR Saturday as she won the women's discus throw with a hurl of 46.65m (153-01). The Pasadena, Calif., native moves into fourth place on the Big Sky performance list.
In the women's triple jump, junior Amanda Duarte recorded her second-best leap of the season with a mark of 38-feet, three inches to secure the Sun Devil Open meet record in the event. Duarte is already qualified in both the long and triple jumps for the conference championships.
It was another solid day for the sprints crew as freshmen Morgan Pope (12.42) and Miles DiSabella (21.91) picked up conference-qualifying times in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes, respectively. DiSabella, the first Lumberjack to qualify in the 200m this season, moves himself into the top 10 of the conference in both the 100m (10.90) and 200m with his new top marks of the year.
Senior Annie Skordas and junior Shekila Wilkinson moved themselves up the conference rankings as well. Skordas set a new personal-best mark of 24.51 in the 200-meter dash, ranking her at No. 3 in the conference. Wilkinson broke the 55-second barrier (55.99) in the 400-meter dash and jumped up to the third spot in the Big Sky rankings.
NAU closes out its season next Saturday as they head to Tucson to take on in-state rivals Arizona and Arizona State at the Arizona Shoot Out.
