Track and Field Takes Second at Big Sky Outdoor Championships

OGDEN, Utah – After 20 events had been completed at Stewart Stadium, the Big Sky Outdoor Championships had yet to be decided, as the Northern Arizona men's track and field team made a ferocious comeback to pull ahead of host Weber State by a half-of-a-point heading into the final event. With a fifth place finish for the men, and a third place run for the women in the 4x400-meter relays, both squads ended the championship meet in second place.

"I think we did everything we could to win this meet, and I couldn't be more proud of our athletes and staff for working so hard this weekend," Heins said. "I am really proud of both teams, especially the women who closed the gap between themselves and Sacramento State from 60 points indoor, to 40 here. The men were the same way having to enter hostile territory in both Bozeman and here in Ogden to try and win championships away from Flagstaff."

With two events remaining until the relays, the Lumberjacks made up 50 points in both the triple jump and men's 5,000-meter run.

Senior David McNeill made it a clean sweep of both the 1,500 (3:44.75) and 5K (14:15.12) for the third-straight year. Sophomores Diego Estrada and Ahmed Osman finished behind McNeill to sweep the podium for the second-straight year in the 5K.

Freshman Charles White came away with the triple jump title, leaping a season-best 49 feet, 5.75 inches to become NAU's first triple jump Big Sky champion since 1992. White was followed by juniors Josh DeKonty (2nd) and Thremaine Johnson (8th) in the event.

Senior Curtis Durocher (hammer throw) and junior Andres Rossini (discus) won their individual events to give the Lumberjacks titles in the hammer, discus and shot put for the first time since 2000. Durocher's hurl of 201 feet gave him his second Big Sky title in two tries in the event, and fourth overall in his career. The discus title for Rossini is the first for NAU since Nick Percucci last accomplished the feat in 2000.

The women's team had another strong day in the sprints with junior Shekila Wilkinson claiming her first Big Sky title in the 400-meter dash (55.24). She followed up that performance with a third-place showing in the 200-meter dash (24.77).

Senior Annie Skordas closed out her career as a Lumberjack as she joined Wilkinson in the 200m with a fourth-place finish, and also collected points when she finished fifth in the 100-meter dash (12.20).

Some young athletes from NAU used the conference meet to make a name for themselves. Freshman Miles DiSabella came on strong this outdoor season for the Lumberjacks, and closed out the year with two third-place finishes in the 100 and 200-meter dash. His times of 10.72 (100m) and (21.62) are both career-bests for the Phoenix, Ariz., native.

Overall, the Lumberjacks walked away from the outdoor championships with 10 Big Sky individual titles, and had nine athletes reach the podium with second and third-place finishes.

The season isn't over yet for many Lumberjacks as the NCAA Preliminary Championships await them on May 27-29.

DID YOU KNOW?...Thirty-five Northern Arizona University student-athletes and department student assistants participated in spring commencement ceremonies on the NAU campus and were commissioned degrees as part of the Class of 2009.