David Mullarkey, Ali Upshaw Win Individual Titles to Lead NAU to Fourth Consecutive Sweep of Big Sky Team Titles

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Northern Arizona Athletics Photo

Mike Smith's cross country coaching tenure in the Big Sky Conference came to an end in perfect fashion as the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks swept the individual and team titles on Friday at the Big Sky Cross Country Championships at the Riverside Golf Course in Pocatello, Idaho.

It marks the fourth consecutive season that both the NAU men's and women's teams swept the Big Sky Conference team titles, with the men scoring 25 points and the women scoring a perfect 15 points to both beat Montana State.

Smith, who announced at the beginning of the season this would be final year coaching at NAU, collected his 13th and 14th conference titles between the men’s and women’s program.

Florida State transfer David Mullarkey captured the individual crown on the men's side in 23 minutes, 6.6 seconds in the 8-kilometer race, leading NAU to earn a 33rd overall conference title and 16th in the last 20 seasons.

Colin Sahlman trailed just eight seconds behind Mullarkey for second overall in 23:14.2, with Santiago Prosser in fifth in 23:29.6, Ford Washburn in eighth in 23:43.5 and freshman Manny Perez in ninth in 23:48.4. Justin Keyes was NAU's sixth runner but rounded out the top 10 individuals in 23:50.2.

Montana State put three in the top 10, with Ben Perrin finishing third in 23:14.9, Sam Ells earning sixth in 23:37.8 and Rob McManus capturing seventh in 23:39.8.

Weber State's Peter Visser placed fourth for the Wildcats in 23:22.4.

Ali Upshaw led the NAU attack in the women's race, winning the individual crown in 16:10.4 for the 5k race, helping the program earn its 26th overall conference title and eighth in the last nine seasons.

Defending Big Sky champion Elise Stearns made her long-awaited season debut for NAU, finishing second overall in 16:27.4 in her final conference meet.

Anna Fenske (16:46.1, 3rd), Ava Mitchell (16:46.3, 4th) and Alexis Kebbe (16:53.2, 5th) completed the perfect scoring for NAU, along with teammates Emma Stutzman (16:59, 6th), Keira Moore (17:01, 8th) and Hayley Burns (17:03.1, 9th) all earning top 10 individual finishes.

Kyla Christopher-Moody ran 16:59.7 for seventh and Grace Gilbreth ran 17:13.9 for 10th to put two Montana State runners in the top 10.