Diego Estrada continued his dominant junior campaign by shattering another school record, this time the 3,000-meter run mark, at the Husky Classic Saturday in Seattle. Additionally, freshman sprinter Darriel Banks highlighted yet another Northern Arizona University home track meet that was full of big performances by tying a 13-year-old record in the 60-meter dash Saturday at the NAU Invitational.
Estrada’s historic mark, also a Big Sky Conference record, comes just two weeks after he wowed the Walkup Skydome crowd by running a sub-four minute mile, breaking Olympian Lopez Lomong’s 2007 record. He now has three NCAA auto-bids for 2012 and holds the Mile, 3,000-meter, and 5,000-meter all-time records for NAU. Estrada also leads the nation in the 5K.
“Diego was really impressive and ran against a stellar field,” said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Eric Heins. “He continues to show that he is not intimidated by anyone or anything, and he runs every race the way it should be run—as hard as he can.”
With Estrada and Banks leading the runners, senior throwers Pascal Tang and Nicole Elliott led the field events in earning identical conference-leading weight throw marks of 64-11.5. Both throwers are ranked in the top 30 in the nation for the event.
“I’ve never been around a group of people like this,” said assistant coach Ed Jacoby. “Each week these athletes get a little bit better, so in my point of view I think we’re in pretty good shape as a team going into the conference meet.”
Banks, a native of North Las Vegas, Nev., nearly broke the record in her preliminary 60-meter race, falling just .03 seconds short of the mark. However, the determined NAU newcomer ran an altitude-converted time of 7.53 in the final to tie the record set by Summer McCollum in 1999.
“Finding out that I just missed the record really motivated me a lot to do well in the final,” said Banks. “I was happy with the race, and I want to do it next week to see if I can get a better time.”
In the long sprints, Adel al Nasser won the 400-meter dash (46.92) in his first individual race since the season-opener, placing him comfortably in the nation’s top 30.
Sixth-year senior Dennis Givens continued his sensational season, adding his third Big Sky qualifying mark with a 60-meter dash time of 6.99 (altitude converted).
It was also a big day for the Lumberjacks in the jumps, as sophomore Lauren Laszczak earned a season best and tied for first in the high jump (5-6) and three NAU men earned season-bests in the long jump. Edgar Panford won the long jump with a mark of 23-8.25, Josh DeKonty, competing in his first meet of the season, leaped 23-6.75, and Andre Gaines notched 23-2.75.
DeKonty also qualified in the high jump (6-6), finishing just behind teammate Frederick Scarber (6-8), who won the event and earned his own season best.
In the distance events, the Lumberjacks qualified five runners in the men’s and women’s mile, adding Caleb Hoover (4:11.18@) and Alejandro Montano (4:11.47@) to the list from Flagstaff, and Haley Lawrence (4:57), Caroline Hogardh (4:52), and Jordan Chipangama (4:03.79) from the Husky Classic in Seattle.
Sophomore Bahlbi Gebreyohanns (8:22.32@) earned a Big Sky auto-bid in the 3K, while junior Lisette Michaels (10:18.24@) and freshman Kenzie Estes (10:22.92@) qualified in the 5K via their 3K races.
Freshman pole vaulter Lisa Lantz earned a season-best mark and cleared 12 feet for the first time in her collegiate career, launching her into sole possession of second place on NAU’s all-time list. She narrowly missed tying Jami Michaud’s school record of 12-7.5 on three straight jumps Saturday.
The Lumberjacks have a short week ahead of them in preparing for Thursday night’s NAU Tune-Up, being held at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff. NAU’s final regular season home meet begins with the field events at 4:30 p.m. and the running events at 6:20 p.m.
