This is the fifth time in school history NAU has swept the outdoor championships. The teams first accomplished this feat in 1990 and then claimed the titles again in 2014, 2016 and 2018. This year, the women were led by junior Matilde Roe<\/strong> and the men were led by senior Luis Grijalva<\/strong>, both of whom named the Big Sky\u2019s Most Valuable Athletes for this meet.<\/p>\n The competition lasted four days. The women claimed their 12th<\/sup> outdoor championship title with a score of 201, 59 points ahead of No. 2 Weber State. NAU also became the third women\u2019s team in Big Sky history to score at least 200 points.<\/p>\n Roe accumulated 25 points for the Lumberjacks, winning the discus and shot put events. Following her performance in shot put was freshman Alaina Diggs<\/strong> in No. 2 and Carly Watts<\/strong> in No. 4. The team also had No. 1 finishes in the 100-meter relay run with seniors Jada Jackson<\/strong> and Miracle Onyemaobi<\/strong> and freshman Kenashalee Kerr<\/strong> and Kenya Coburn<\/strong>, the 1500-meter race run by Taryn O\u2019Neill <\/strong>and the 800-meter race run by Maggi Congdon<\/strong>. Many other top 10 finishes from teammates secured the team\u2019s overall No. 1 finish.<\/p>\n \u201cI know some of the best teams we\u2019ve had at NAU and in the history of this conference, and it\u2019s remarkable,\u201d Smith said, referring to the women\u2019s performance. \u201cIt speaks to the balance of our program\u2014it\u2019s not just one event area. We\u2019re a full track and field team and the performance this weekend puts us against the best teams ever, and it certainly looked that way to me.\u201d<\/p>\n On the men\u2019s side, the team started in No. 3, but took the lead early to claim their 23rd<\/sup> all-time conference outdoor championship title with a score of 168, leading the No. 2 team Montana State by 46 points. This also is the highest the men have scored since their championship total of 187 points in 2016.<\/p>\n Grijalva accumulated 22 points and won the 1500-meter race, setting a new stadium record of 3:41.61. Following him in that event were four teammates, which meant NAU dominated placings in the top eight spots: freshman Nico Young<\/strong> in No. 3, freshman Abdihamid Nur<\/strong> in No. 5, junior Theo Quax<\/strong> in No. 6 and senior Cade Burks<\/strong> in No. 7. Contributing to NAU\u2019s wins were junior David Dunlap<\/strong> in the 200-meter while Nur and Young took No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the 5000-meter. All of these placings combined with numerous top ten finishes by other teammates sealed the team\u2019s overall victory.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have an amazing coaching staff and they take care of their event groups in huge ways,\u201d Smith said. \u201cOur athletes know they play a part in the greater puzzle required to win team championships. Young athletes need experience at championships, which they haven\u2019t had because of the pandemic, but they certainly got it this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n With the conference championships completed, the Lumberjacks now await the list of those who qualified for the NCAA West Regional held May 27-29 in College Station, Texas. Follow the teams\u2019 events on the NAU Cross Country and Track and Field Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Track](\"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wordpresst\/uploads\/sites\/153\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Mens-Team-Photo-1.jpg\")
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