Spotlight

In the Spotlight: April 17-21, 2023

Kudos to these faculty, staff, students and programs 

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  • The NAU Track & Field teams saw an outstanding final day of their California road trip as they wrapped up competition at the Mt. SAC Relays and the Bryan Clay Invitational, including setting a new record.  
    • The women’s 4×100-meter relay competed at the Mt. SAC Relays. Kenya Coburn, Alyssa Colbert, LiNay Perry and Kyairra Reigh competed in the invitational section of the race, combining to run a time of 44.72 and set a new school and conference record. 
    • Colbert ran in the invitational section of the 100-meter, finishing 13th with a season-best time of 11.44. 
    • David Dunlap competed in the men’s 200-meter invitational, setting a new personal record with a time of 20.38 to finish third in a highly competitive field. 
    • The women’s 4×400-meter relay also competed in the invitational section at the Mt. SAC Relays, finishing in 11th place. Perry, Reigh, Odessa Zentz and Kenya Coburn combined to finish with a time of 3:44.01.
    • The hammer squad saw solid performances from John Murphy and Garret Bernt. They finished back-to-back in the event, placing 13th and 14th, respectively. Murphy threw 62.96 meters while Bernt set a new personal best with a throw of 61.89 meters. 
    • At the Bryan Clay Invitational, Kenashalee Kerr and Jenna Figueroa finished sixth and eighth, respectively, in the women’s triple jump. Kerr jumped a personal best 12.47 meters while Figueroa jumped 12.22 meters.  
    • In the men’s triple jump, Sirr Butler jumped a season best 15.09 meters to place sixth. 
    • In the men’s long jump, Mitchell Effing finished fifth with a mark of 7.65 meters. Ian Lipsey finished 14th with a mark of 7.05 meters, while Butler placed 29th after jumping 6.76 meters. 
    • Madeline Wilson competed in the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter. She finished 21st in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.30. Wilson ran a personal best 23.84 to place 13th  in the 200-meter. 
    • The distance group also saw strong performances, with every competitor setting a new 1500-meter PR. Annika Reiss was the top finisher for the women, placing 21st in the 1500-meter invitational with a time of 4:15.02. Bryn Morley and Taryn O’Neill finished back-to-back in 46th and 47th place. Morley ran a time of 4:18.57, while O’Neill ran a time of 4:18.59. Nikita Moore also competed, finishing 62nd with a time of 4:19.60. 
    • Colin Sahlman impressed in the men’s 1500-meter invitational, placing 12th and running a time of 3:38.30. Sahlman’s time puts him at fifth on NAU’s all-time list for the event. Theo Quax and Kang Nyoak finished 21st and 68th, respectively, with running times of 3:39.36 and 3:43.67. 
  • The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) recently announced the 2023 Winter Academic All-WAC honorees, with 20 NAU swimming and diving student-athletes named to the list. To be eligible for the honor, a student-athlete must have completed at least one academic year, have at least a 3.2 cumulative grade-point average and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s contests. 
    • NAU 2023 Winter Academic All-WAC honorees: 
      • Kendall Carlson, Jr.  
      • Annie Carlton, Jr.  
      • Casey Craffey, So. 
      • Francesca Criscione, Jr. 
      • Jamie Dellwardt, So. 
      • Caylah Jago, Jr. 
      • Maegan Jensen, Jr. 
      • Bena Koehn, So. 
      • Emily Luberto, Sr. 
      • Rachael Lytle, So. 
      • Kendall Marquez, So. 
      • Illiana Moore, Sr. 
      • Delaney Phillips, Jr. 
      • Maddy Rey, Jr. 
      • Helena Robla-Alvarez, So. 
      • Makenna Sammons, So. 
      • Brooke Seiber, Sr. 
      • Abigail Tashlein, Jr. 
      • Sophie Velitchkov, Jr. 
      • Emma Warner, Jr. 
  • Brooklyn Christofis, a senior in the Department of Anthropology, presented a peer-reviewed presentation titled “Machine Learning for UAV-captured Imagery: an Outgrowth of XRchaeology 2019-2022” at the 50th Annual CAA conference in Amsterdam on April 5. Brooklyn joined an international, interinstitutional collaborative research project, co-directed by Kayeleigh Sharp, Department of Anthropology and Lic. Carlos Osores Mendives (DDC, Peru) in February 2023. Upesh Nepal and Hossein Eslamiat from the Southern Illinois University Carbondale, contributed engineering expertise and invaluable scientific advisement. This research is revolutionizing how archaeological surveys are conducted using UAVs and through the application of Machine Learning and transdisciplinary collaboration. This trip was made possible through the SBS Ray A. Madden Travel Award scholarship. 
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