Men’s Track and Field Rallies to Win Second-Straight Indoor Title
BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Northern
Arizona men’s track and field team came to Bozeman with one
mission: repeat, and after senior thrower Javier Villarreal
captured the men’s shot put title, the team was crowned 2010
Big Sky Indoor Champions. NAU (132) narrowly defended its indoor
title by 4.77 points over host Montana State (127.33).
This mark’s the first indoor title that the men have
captured outside of Flagstaff in 14 years, and first for Interim
Director of Track and Field & Cross Country Eric Heins.
“The men were battling all weekend long with Montana State
and we knew that them being at home would fire them up, and they
gave us a run for our money,” Heins said. “Our guys
stepped up when they needed to and got the job done. I cannot say
enough about how proud I am of our guys and the effort of Montana
State.”
The women’s team also faced a deficit Saturday, but battled
back from fifth place to finish second overall (91) behind
Sacramento State (167.50).
“For our women to be able to come back and finish second
says a lot about their character to finish where they did
today,” Heins said.
After the men’s 4x400-meter relay, the men’s team was
down by just over five points with just the shot put remaining.
Villarreal shined when it truly mattered for the Lumberjacks and
captured his third shot put title in his career.
“I came out to my last event, not knowing if we were going
to win or not,” Villarreal said. “I just went in there
and delivered after coach made me feel very relaxed heading into
the event. Coach tells us every year, ‘throw what got you
here,’ and I did what I needed to do so that our team could
come up with another title”
Saturday consisted of many pivotal events for the Lumberjacks that
were full of drama.
The men’s mile featured three NCAA provisional qualifiers
and it lived up to the expectations of being an exciting event. It
came down to a thrilling end with David McNeill (4:10.14) finishing
in second, narrowly behind Montana State’s Patrick Casey
(4:09.92). Junior Jordan Chipangama (4:10.75) was right on
McNeill’s heel’s and finished third. Rounding out the
scoring for NAU in the event was sophomore Darius Terry (4:15.49)
who took the seventh spot.
Chipangama would get his pay back though in the 800-meter run. With Casey in the lead after 600m, the Zambia native overtook him on the backstretch and held on, winning in a time of 1:49.94, .03 seconds better then Casey. The season-best mark also moves Chipangama up to No. 21 in the nation in the event.
After falling short in the mile, McNeill made up for it with a victory in the 3,000-meter run, his first ever Big Sky indoor title. The Aussie took off from the field with four laps left and finished in a time of 8 :11.93, nearly 10 seconds better then teammate, and second-place finisher, Ahmed Osman. Ben Ashkettle and Tim Freriks added to the Lumberjacks 22 total points in the event with sixth and seventh-place finishes, respectively.
The Lumberjacks collected 17 points in the thrilling men’s triple jump. Freshman Charles White leaped a season-best 15.02m (49-03.50) in his second-to-last jump to take the overall lead, but Montana State’s Dustin Cichosz outdid the Las Vegas native by a centimeter to take the title in the event. Freshman Edgar Panford joined White on the podium with a third-place finish (14.49m/47-06.5), and junior Josh DeKonty gave the team three points and a sixth-place finish (14.11m/46-03.5).
The women’s side also featured season-best marks on Saturday, and even saw a Canadian record fall.
NAU scored five points in the women’s weight throw from freshman Lauren Stuart and junior Nicole Elliott who finished sixth and seventh, respectively. Stuart, the British Columbia native, saved her best throw of the season for the championships when she recorded a hurl of 17.76m (58-03.25). The mark also gives Stuart the Junior Canadian Record in the event, which was previously held by Rochelle Kokayko (17.71m).
Senior Annie Skordas and Junior Shekila Wilkinson teamed up to give the Lumberjacks a one-two finish in the 200-meter dash. One-hundredth of a second separated the duo as they recorded season-best times of 24.55 and 24.56, respectively.
Four members of the women’s squad collected fourth-place finishes Saturday from Haley Lawrence in the mile (5:03.68), Skordas in the 55-meter dash (7.15), Rashida McKinnon with a season-best time in the 400-meter dash (56.63) and Amber Anderson in the triple jump (12.21m/40-0.75).
Skordas concluded her busy day anchoring the 4x400-meter relay team to a second-place finish behind Weber State, and a season-best time for the NAU relay team that also featured Jackie Shea, McKinnon and Wilkinson (3:46.18).
This concludes the indoor season for many Lumberjacks, but for McNeill, Osman, Chipangama, Ashkettle and Villarreal, the NCAA Indoor Championships may be in their future.
