Story Links FINAL RESULTS FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Jan. 10, 2025) – The Northern Arizona track and field programs opened 2025 by hosting the Friday Night Axe ‘Em Open at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff. In all, the programs broke two school records and set a total of 12 new top ten marks. Both Colin Sahlman […]
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (Jan. 10, 2025) –
The Northern Arizona track and field programs opened 2025 by hosting the Friday Night Axe ‘Em Open at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff.
In all, the programs broke two school records and set a total of 12 new top ten marks. Both Colin Sahlman and Maggi Congdon set new program records in the 600-meters. Additionally, the Lumberjacks won a total of 11 events – six on the men’s side and five on the women’s.
Congdon broke a 42-year old school record in the women’s 600-meters, clocking a time of 1:27.37 to finish first. Alexandra Carlson also broke the previous record of 1:31.45, running 1:31.06 to finish second. NAU would claim spots one-through-four in the event, as Odessa Zentz finished third in 1:32.15 and Kiki Vaughn was fourth in 1:34.62.
Congdon had quite a day, as she ran her first indoor 400-meters and earned a spot on the top ten list, running 54.19 to win the race and now ranks seventh all-time in program history. Carlson followed in 56.44 for a new personal best, finishing second. Rounding out the top ten was Zentz (4th, 57.68), Brooklyn Grizzell (8th, 58.98), and Kiki Vaughn (10th, 59.49).
In her collegiate debut, freshman Sydnie Watkins qualified for the finals of the 60-meter hurdles after placing fifth in the prelims with a time of 8.64. In the finals, she improved to 8.58 and finished third overall, coming up just short of the program record (8.57) and ranking second all-time at Northern Arizona.
La Trouchka Duke qualified for the finals in the 60-meters after finishing seventh with a time of 7.52. She bested her time in the finals, clocking 7.45 to finish fourth.
In the women’s 200-meters, Kyairra Reigh took home a first-place finish with a season-opening time of 24.23. Watkins placed fourth in the event in her debut, clocking 24.90. She was followed by freshman Shanye Harris (6th, 25.10) and Alaynah Reed (7th, 25.22).
In the women’s mile, the Lumberjacks claimed spots one-through-six. Elise Stearns won with a time of 4:51.14 and she was followed by Ava Mitchell (4:56.10), Hayley Burns (4:57.12), Emma Stutzman 4:57.98), Alexis Kebbe (5:01.88) and Anna Fenske (5:06.17). Burns, Kebbe, and Fenske all set personal bests. Abi Bass also competed and placed second in her heat and 10th overall with a time of 5:36.46.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay placed first with a time of 3:54.03.
The Lumberjacks also claimed first in the women’s weight throw with three in the finals, as Sariyah Horne-Kemp tossed 18.22-meters to claim the victory. Ronan Gallagher, in her collegiate debut, finished third with a mark of 17.24-meters. Larissa Francois, also making her debut, finished fourth with a throw of 16.33-meters.
Francois also competed in the shot put and advanced to the finals in that event as well, finishing fifth with a toss of 13.68-meters.
Alexa Hamilton was the lone ‘Jack in the long jump and she qualified for finals after jumping a new personal best of 5.39-meters on her first attempt. In the finals, she leaped 5.39-meters once again to finish sixth overall.
Sahlman broke the program record in the 600-meters as well, clocking 1:17.24 and finishing first overall. Also, in the 600-meters was Clay Shively who finished sixth in 1:20.41, which also broke the previous school record of 1:21.05. Caleb Easton rounded things out with a 13th finish in 1:23.93, ranking seventh all-time.
Sahlman also won the men’s 400-meters with a new personal best of 48.63 while Nicolas Martinez finished fifth in 49.61.
Lamar Smith, in his first race as a ‘Jack, narrowly missed the finals of the men’s 60-meters, finishing ninth in the prelims with a time of 6.82. In the 200-meters, he was NAU’s top-finisher with a time of 21.78, finishing fourth. Joshua Anderson followed in the 200-meters with a time of 22.07 to finish seventh.
Also making his collegiate debut in the 60-meter hurdles was Shon Martin who qualified for finals after running 8.14 to finish sixth in the prelims. He improved to 8.05 in the finals to place fifth and now ranks ninth all-time in program history.
The men also claimed the top five spots in the mile, separated by only seven seconds. Drew Bosley finished first with a time of 4:11.15 and he was followed by Erik Le Roux (4:13.37), Santiago Prosser (4:16.88), Randy Espinoza (4:17.09) and Kang Nyoak (4:18.34).
Two men’s 4×400-meter relay teams finished first and second, clocking times of 3:15.32 and 3:16.96.
Three Lumberjacks advanced to finals in the men’s weight throw, led by Garret Bernt who placed first with a season opening toss of 22.62 meters. Desmond Lott placed fourth with a new personal best of 21.03 and Nikolas Strait placed seventh with a mark of 18.03 in his collegiate debut.
Lott’s success continued over to the shot put where he placed fifth with a toss of 17.17-meters, setting a new personal best that ranks eighth all-time in program history.
Martin also competed in the long jump and advanced to the finals with a mark of 6.84-meters, finishing fourth overall. Also in the jumps, Sirr Butler finished first in the men’s triple jump after leaping 14.80. He was joined by two others in the finals in Jordan Netherly (4th, 13.60m) and Oluwatoni Adigun (6th, 12.70).
In the men’s high jump, Christian Mutengela finished fourth with a new personal best of 1.95-meters, while Julian Moore and Carter Anderson each tied for fifth in their collegiate debuts after clearing 1.90-meters.
Northern Arizona will be back in action at home again next week on Friday, Jan. 17 for the Lumberjack Team Challenge.
