Diego Estrada and Deante Kemper were named the men's track and field athletes of the week by the Big Sky Conference on Tuesday after each posted record performances at the Mountain T's Invitational this past weekend.
Estrada shattered the school record in the mile on Saturday, crossing the finish line in an altitude-converted 3 minutes, 55.46 seconds, while Kemper cleared a Big Sky-best high jump mark of 7 feet, 2.25 inches, coming within an inch of breaking the NAU all-time mark.
Diego and Deante had very big highlights for us this weekend," director of track and field and cross country Eric Heins said. "Having Diego beat an Olympian's record is pretty incredible, and watching Deante achieve a big personal record like he did gives us high hopes for them both going further into this season."
Estrada, who currently holds the second-best mile time in the nation, defeated Olympian and recent NAU graduate Lopez Lomong's record (4:00.46) by nearly five seconds after the altitude conversion. His actual time of 4:04.36 is also better than Lomong's pre-conversion time of 4:05.73, set in Bozeman, Mont. in 2007.
"The fact that Diego's time converted to a sub-four minute mile made me even more excited for him, considering all the fans who were on hand to watch on Saturday," Heins said.
Estrada earned his second NCAA auto-bid on Saturday in addition to breaking the record. His first came at the Hoosier Open in December, where he set the top time in the nation for the 5,000-meter run at 13:39.54.
Kemper, a native of San Diego, Calif., currently holds the best mark in the country among freshmen high jumpers and stands 12th overall. He has yet to clear the NCAA auto-qualifying height of 7-4, though there are still plenty of chances to hit that goal.
The Lumberjacks will be in action again this weekend at the NAU Open, their third of six home meets during the indoor season. The meet, which will offer free admission, begins with the field events at 9 a.m. with running events to follow at 11 a.m.
WOMEN'S GOLF
Northern Arizona University was picked as the No. 2 team in the running for the 2012 Big Sky Conference women's golf championship.
The Sacramento State Hornets drew the top spot in the 2012 coaches' poll, which was released by the league office on Thursday. The Hornets garnered four first-place votes and 58 total points. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams.
Northern Arizona earned two first-place votes and 55 total points. Two-time defending champion Portland State also received two first-place votes, and 52 total points. Montana, under the direction of first-year coach Emily Milberger, was selected fourth with one first-place vote and 48 total points.
Northern Colorado was selected sixth with 32 points, followed by Weber State (29), Montana State (27), Eastern Washington (15) and Idaho State (8)
The 54-hole 2012 Big Sky Conference Championship will be played April 22-24 at the Ocotillo Golf Resort in Chandler. Portland State won last year's championship with a tournament-record 880.
Northern Arizona, which placed second at last year's championship with an 891, is led by junior Stephanie Kim, who claimed medalist honors at the 2010 championship, and finished tied for 16th in 2011. Northern Arizona sophomore Kaitlen Parsons averaged 76.27 strokes per round in the fall, and tied for ninth at last year's championship.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
While NAU women's basketball player Amy Patton, and her family of Tempe, was thrilled to be part of the group that got to shake hands with President Barack Obama at Gateway Airport Wednesday, they kept an eye out for another passenger aboard Air Force One.
Gayla Patton's brother, Army Lt. Colonel LaRoy Peyton, is part of President Obama's traveling party. Peyton's duties kept him from having a chance to visit with relatives last Wednesday when Obama visited the Valley, but he did provide access for several family members to be part of the group that greeted and shook hands with the President before he was whisked off to the Intel facility in Chandler.
"We're very proud of him," Gayla Patton said about her brother. "He's been places where most men can't go. He's seen the whole world. But he's pretty matter of fact about it. He just says he's in the Army, it's his job."
Gayla Patton said her brother had also performed similar duties under President George W. Bush during his Army career.
She said getting a chance to interact with the President made up for not being able to see her brother this time.
"When I saw the plane coming in I began to get nervous and excited," Gayla Patton said. "To have a chance to be so close to the president was exciting."
Amy Patton was also at Gateway Airport for the opportunity to meet Obama. Amy Patton is the Lumberjacks women's basketball team leading scorer, and as it turned out the team had the day off Wednesday, but she said she would have come down from Flagstaff anyway.
"My team was excited for me," Amy Patton said. "He's such a great man. Not a lot of people get the opportunity to be that close to the president. It was a blessing to be able to shake his hand."
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Northern Arizona will take on UC Davis of the Big West Conference at home at 6:35 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18 in the 2012 Sears BracketBusters.
NAU is in the field for the sixth time in school history and second-consecutive season overall. NAU defeated Wichita State (2008), San Jose State (2007) and Cal Poly (2011) and fell to Tulsa (2005) and Western Kentucky (2006) in its previous five games in the event. The Big Sky Conference is participating in the BracketBusters Pool for the eighth-straight season.
UC Davis is 1-19 overall and 0-8 in Big West Conference play after a close 67-65 loss to Cal Poly on Saturday. The Aggies have lost 16 consecutive games entering their game at UC Irvine on Thursday. UC Davis will join the Big Sky Conference this fall as a football affiliate. Former Sinagua High School product Ryan Howley is a junior for the Aggies.
The two schools last met in the 2005-06 season in Flagstaff, a game won by the Lumberjacks 78-50. NAU owns a 2-0 all-time mark against the Aggies.
Per the BracketBusters agreement, the teams paired against each other this year must return a regular-season game in either 2012-13, or 2013-14.
Editor's Note: The NAU Sports Information Department and Weldon B. Johnson of the Arizona Republic contributed to this roundup.
