For the second time in two years, the NAU men's track and field team is battling for the sport's triple crown. After winning the Big Sky Conference championship in cross country and indoor track and field earlier this school year, the Lumberjack men hope to sweep all three titles again.

"The last two years, it's been a goal because we thought we had an opportunity to do it," head coach Eric Heins said. "The guys definitely want to try and do it again."

As usual, the team boasts a stable of distance runners that should compete for the top spots in every race.

The Jacks own five of the top 10 times in both the 5,000 and 10,000-meter races. Last year, NAU edged Weber State 169-142 and was significantly aided by taking the top five spots in the 5,000.

"With the position we're in, there's no point in settling for second best," standout senior distance runner David McNeill said.

Again, Weber State figures to be the main competition, but the Wildcats own home-field advantage this season with the meet being held in Ogden, Utah.

During the indoor championships, the Jacks slipped by host Montana State with a four-and-a-half point victory. It's a big advantage and one the team isn't going to take lightly.

"We need to let go of the fact that (the Wildcats) are on their home turf," McNeill said. "We saw during the indoor conference meet how much home-ground advantage means to a team. Montana State put up a really big fight against us on their home turf and we'll be expecting the same against Weber."

McNeill will run the 1,500, 3,000, 5,000 and possibly the 4x400 relay, something he hasn't done since high school.

"We've got a strong enough team where we can distribute our runners a bit and still be able to put together a good amount of points," McNeill said, citing that the distance team is strong enough to win the 10,000 without him. "I'll try to do my thing in the 1,500."

McNeill's mostly recovered from a sprained ankle he suffered a few weeks ago. It's been nagging him a little bit but he figures it to be fully healed in time for his races.

"The legs are still there but I lost a little bit of that endurance, so I've been building that up this week and last week. It's starting to feel a bit better now," McNeill said.

Diego Estrada and Ahmed Osman will be among the distance runners trying to do damage along with McNeill.

The Jacks won't only be relying on their distance corps exclusively, though. The throwing trio of Javier Villarreal, Andres Rossini and Curtis Durocher led the Big Sky by significant margins in the shot put, discus and hammer throw, respectively.

It may not be enough, though. Heins said Weber State boasts athletes among the top 10 in almost every single event.

"We have some people in the 12-to-14 range as opposed to being in the top eight," Heins said. "If those guys can make that move into the top eight, it will give us a chance to win."

On the girls' side, it's almost the same situation except Sacramento State is in NAU's way to first place. During the indoor championships in March, the Hornets won easily, surpassing the second-place Jacks by 70.5 points (167.5 to 97).

"We've got to do a really good job of stepping up to close that gap from what it was during the indoor meet," Heins said. "It's all across the board -- it's not like we're looking at one event that could swing it."

Hurdler Jackie Shea says the women's team has responded well after going through a rough patch in March when sprints, jumps and hurdles coach Wiley King left the program and was replaced by graduate assistant and former NAU sprinter Adawale Awosanya.

"The team's started to come together and realized we still have a job to do despite some difficulties we may have faced earlier," Shea said. "I think we're ready."

The women overcame a rough first day during the indoor meet to score most of their points on day two and vaulted themselves into second place.

"Hopefully we can come into outdoors with the same kind of attitude," Shea said. "If we can get some people in to the finals, we'll be in a really good spot to win the championship."

Like the men, the distance corps should be scoring most of the points. Senior Nell Rojas leads the conference in the steeplechase and also has the fourth-best time in the 5,000, while teammate Veronica Pohl leads the event.

The Jacks are also counting on junior jumper Amber Anderson to score big points in the long and triple jump, where she is ranked first and second, respectively.

The meet starts today with the decathlon and heptathlon and ends on Saturday.

Jacob May can be reached at jmay@azdailysun.com or 556-2257.