OGDEN, Utah (May 16, 2016) - For the second time in three seasons, Northern Arizona swept the outdoor men's and women's track & field championships.
The NAU men won eight events and had 17 all-conference finishes on the way to a dominant team victory totaling 187 points for a gap of 97.5 points on second-place Montana. The Lumberjack women turned in 90 points at the final day of the meet along with five individual titles to push towards 120 for the meet to knock off defending champion Sacramento State (96).
- Some favorable wind on the track and some big performances in the field events at the league meet led to several new Big Sky all-time top 10 marks. NAU's Adam Keenan broke his own all-time record in the hammer and set a new championship record. Weber State's Aaliyah Crawford set new all-time and meet records in the 200 and Portland State's Genna Settle tied a meet record in the 100 as well. The Big Sky re-wrote the Nottingham Field record book at UNC, setting dozens of new facility records over the four-day meet in Greeley.
- Four athletes successfully defended their 2015 outdoor titles in Montana State's Christie Schiel (800), NAU's James Fisher (200), Northern Colorado's Alex Wesley (400) and Sac State's Chloe Berlioux (1500). NAU's Melanie Townsend (5K) Ashley Taylor (400 hurdles), and Jessica Weise (shot put) each grabbed second career titles.
- For the first time since the early 1980's, neither the men's or women's sides had an athlete win two or more individual titles at the Big Sky meet. Since women's track & field had become sponsored in 1983, either one or both the men's and women's sides had double or triple individual champions each season.
- After its fifth-straight outdoor title, the NAU men are ranked No. 23 nationally by the USTFCCCA.
- Now teams will prepare for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds on May 26-28. To compete in Kansas athletes need to rank in the top 48 of their event in the West Region. The top 24 relays teams will also compete at the meet. As of Monday, 71 Big Sky individuals rank in the top 48, but more can potentially get into the top 48 if other competitors don't declare or scratch.