Villarreal Wins Fifth Big Sky Title; Women in First, Men Second After First Day
OGDEN, Utah – It was an eventful first day of the Big Sky Outdoor Championships for the Northern Arizona track and field team. From the 50-minute rain delay, to the blustery wind, the Lumberjacks shined on the first day of competition by capturing four individual titles and three second-place finishes. The women's team (43) leads by five points over Weber State, and the men (54) trail the Wildcats by 1.5.
Interim Director of Track and Field Eric Heins is happy to see both of his teams in contention for the title as they enter the second day of competition.
"It is great to go into the second day winning on the women's side and being down slightly on the men's, but we have some holes tomorrow that our competitors will score in and vice versa," Heins said. "It is going to be another exciting meet that goes down to the wire just like the indoor championships. Whether or not we win or lose, I feel that both teams have had a successful campaign. It is just a matter of continuing the momentum into tomorrow.
The highlight of the day came from the shot put ring as senior Javier Villarreal won his fifth Big Sky shot put title with a season-best mark of 60 feet, 2.75 inches. The Eloy, Ariz., native now has the most conference shot put titles in school history, breaking a tie with former Lumberjack Hakan Andersson.
"I just felt like I had nothing to lose," Villarreal said about his last Big Sky competition. "I went into the event wanting to show the younger throwers on the team that you always have to improve yourself so that you can reach your greater goals beyond conference. It was a good experience for me to be able to show the freshman that to take on the legacy once I am gone, they have continue their hard work."
In the men's 10,000-meter run, the Lumberjacks made it a clean sweep of the podium once again as sophomore Ahmed Osman collected his second-straight 10K conference title. Junior Ben Ashkettle shared the lead with Osman for the majority of the race and placed second overall. Finishing in third was sophomore Andrew Belus who collected his first career Big Sky points. Sophomore Diego Estrada rounded out the scoring for NAU in the event with his fourth-place finish.
The women's 10K featured sophomore Kortnee Burton who ran a new career-best time of 35:03.08 (altitude converted) to give her a second-place finish, further cementing her spot in the regional rankings.
It was quite a day for the women's throwers as junior Shelby McCray captured the title in the women's discus throw with a hurl of 151 feet, 5.75 inches. It's the Pasadena, Calif., natives first career Big Sky championship. Freshman Lauren Stuart added eight more points to the team total with a second-place finish in the women's hammer throw with a mark of 181 feet.
After the conclusion of day one, the Lumberjacks will be sending five sprinters and one hurdler to the final round after they advanced through the trials in their respective events.
Three women's sprinters, including senior Annie Skordas (100m, 200m) and juniors Shekila Wilkinson (200m, 400m) and Rashida McKinnon (400m) will vie for a spot on the podium tomorrow. Jackie Shea will also be looking to score for NAU in the 400-meter hurdles as she finished the day with a new personal-best time of 1:03.27 to advance to the finals.
Freshman Miles DiSabella qualified in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes, and will be joined in the 200m by junior DeVaughn Shead.
The final day of competition begins with the men's hammer throw at 8:30 a.m. PDT, and concludes with the all-important 4x400 relays.
