JackCentral

The NAU track and field team finished up their indoor season in Pocatello, Idaho at the Big Sky indoor championships. The Lumberjacks placed third in both the men’s and women’s division. Sacramento State won the championship for both the men’s and the women’s teams, and Weber State was the runner-up in both divisions.
“I thought we performed average. We came in expecting to win,” said director of track and field J.W. Hardy. “We had some good individual performances.”
The Lumberjacks earned three gold medals for individual performances. Junior Candice Bryant won the gold in the women’s shot put with a throw of 49 feet 7 inches. Freshman Pascal Tang brought home the gold in the men’s weight throw with a toss of 61 feet. Junior Javier Villarreal wrapped up the gold medals for the Lumberjacks by winning the men’s shot put with a 58 foot 9 inch toss.
“I wasn’t doing as well as I thought,” Villarreal said. “I had my lifetime best for my last throw.”
Women’s junior weight thrower Georgina Toth earned the silver medal in the weight throw. She finished behind Portland State’s Caressa Simms.
In the running events, Junior Andre Nunis finished third in the men’s 60-meter dash. Nunis completed the race in 6.84 seconds. Thremaine Johnson placed sixth in the men’s triple jump, and Ben Ashkettle placed third in the men’s 3,000 meters.
“We’re talented enough to win by thirty,” Hardy said. “Unfortunately we didn’t have the fire today.”
On the women’s side of the running events, senior Lesley Van Miert brought home a silver medal in the women’s 3,000 meters. Van Miert earned her second silver medal of the meet when she finished second in the mile with a time of 4:54.76. Sophomore Annie Skordas, junior Amber Washington, senior Alli Vernon and freshman Talia Jones finished in fifth place for the women’s 4×400 relay.
One Lumberjack, sophomore David McNeill, has qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships while others will rely on their provisional times to try to get into the championships.
Even though the indoor season is coming to a close, the Lumberjacks will return for the outdoor season on Mar. 22, with meets in Tempe, as well as Tucson.
“I think it’s time to refocus, figure out some things, lace up the boot straps and go light up the other teams in outdoor,” Hardy said. “There was plenty of good today, but we’re looking for great.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 5:40 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.