Northern Arizona University Women's Soccer

Andy Johns, winner of 11 consecutive Western Athletic Conference titles, enters his 29th season as the Northern Arizona head swimming & diving coach in 2024-2025. Together with Diving Coach Nikki Kelsey, the two coaches have turned the Lumberjacks into one of the premier programs in the West, with Johns receiving coach of the year honors nine times since joining the WAC in 2005. Throughout his tenure at the helm of the Lumberjacks, Johns has consistently produced championship caliber teams in addition to developing a program that is equally exceptional in the classroom as it is in the pool. During the 2022-23 campaign, Johns led the Lumberjacks to victories over both Washington State and New Mexico. At the invitational level, Northern Arizona finished second at the UNLV Invitational behind only UCLA. The Lumberjacks would eventually defend their WAC championship with an 835 point performance in February. The season saw both Haley Mayhew and Casey Craffey break school records, with Mayhew breaking the NAU record in the 200 breaststroke (2:12.95) and the 200 IM (2:00.04). Craffey set a new Lumberjack records in the 1000 free (9:59.05) and broke a 29-year long record in the 500 free (4:46.38). In the pool, the Lumberjacks have captured 62 individual and relay conference titles, 126 school records (a high of 11 set at the 2009 WAC meet), nine conference records and 49 NCAA qualifying marks under Johns' tutelage. In the classroom, his student-athletes have posted cumulative grade-point averages of 3.50 and higher in 8 of the past 10 academic semesters. The Lumberjacks are consistently among the best programs the league in placing student-athletes on the WAC All-Academic lists with 25 earning the honor last year. NAU has been recognized 16 times as an Academic All-America Team by the Collegiate Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) including last year's squad which posted a 3.66 grade point average in the spring of 2023. NAU's team GPA under Johns is the highest of any of the four major swim and dive programs in the state of Arizona. Along with building a total program that produces student-athletes to the very definition, Johns' tenure has included several major moments for NAU swimming & diving. Johns navigated NAU from the Pacific Collegiate Swimming Conference to its first all-Division I affiliation in the National Independent Conference (NIC) in 1998-99, followed by the program's move to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) prior to the 2004-05 season. Johns followed up his first WAC championship with a successful title defense during the 2014-15 season. In contrast to their third and fourth consecutive championships to follow, the Lumberjacks conquered the WAC despite winning just two individual gold medals. At the 2014 championships, senior Jordan Burnes won the 200 breaststroke and sophomore Kendall Brown in the 1650 freestyle while junior diver Chelsea Jackson and freshman Alina Staffeldt – NAU's Female Newcomer of the Year – won gold on 3-meter and in the 100 butterfly respectively in 2015. Johns' first WAC Championship team ended the 2013-14 academic year with a flurry of scholastic accolades. NAU posted the seventh-best GPA in the nation during the Spring 2014 semester while seniors Andrea Derflinger, Emma Lowther and Stirling Smith were recipients of the prestigious NAU Gold Axe Award. Smith was also named NAU's Female Senior Student-Athlete of the Year award which marked the second straight year that the program produced the top female student-athlete at NAU following Fi Connell the year prior. Before their current run of championships, Johns' Lumberjacks endured heartbreak with a narrow seven-point loss to San Jose State at the 2013 WAC meet. Despite falling just short of the program's first WAC Championship, freshman Ellie Morrissey was named the WAC Freshman of the Year at the conclusion of the meet with Nikki Kelsey receiving her second WAC Diving Coach of the Year award. NAU also won its first WAC medley relay title in the 400 medley relay, shattering the previous school record by nearly two seconds in the process. While the program was reaching new heights within the conference, Johns led NAU to its first dual meet victory over Arizona State as well as fellow Pac-12 foe Washington State. The Lumberjacks also produced some of the top female student-athletes at NAU as Kristy Ardavanis (2012-13) and Rachel Palmer (2011-12) received the university's Female Athlete of the Year award. Meanwhile, Ellie Morrissey (2012-13) and Caitlin Wright (2011-12) were voted as NAU's Female Newcomers of the Year. The 'Jacks also reached a high-water ranking of a tie for sixth in the final CollegeSwimming.com 2013 Mid-Major Poll while tying for the sixth-best team GPA among all NCAA Division I women's swimming & diving programs in 2013, marking NAU's second consecutive top 10 academic GPA ranking nationally. In 2012-13, a pair of Lumberjacks received distinguished academic honors as Fi Connell was named NAU's Female Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year and Palmer was voted to the Capital One Academic All-District 8 Women's At-Large First Team. The Lumberjacks earned the runner-up title among nine teams in 2008-09 and finished second among eight teams during the 2007-08 season. At the 2009 WAC Championships, the Lumberjacks earned 43 All-WAC Awards and set 11 school records. The 11 school records still remains the most ever set at a conference meet during Johns' tenure, while the 43 All-WAC honors were topped by the 2015-16 team's 53 awards. During NAU's first three seasons as an affiliate member of the WAC, Johns helped improve the Lumberjacks' fifth-place finish in their inaugural season in 2004-05 to a pair of third-place finishes. He was named WAC Coach of the Year in NAU's rookie season and was pivotal in coaching Alexis Buckley to the 2006 NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga. Buckley swam in both the 1,650 and 500 freestyle and became the first female swimmer at NAU to represent the Lumberjacks in 12 years. Prior to joining the WAC, NAU finished second at the National Independent Conference (NIC) Championships in 2003-04 and Johns was named the NIC Women's Swimming Coach of the Year. NAU had seven individual conference champions, tying the team record for the most champions in a single conference meet. The Lumberjacks also set 10 school records, and earned two other honors in addition to Johns', as Nikki Huffman earned her fourth Diving Coach of the Year honor and then-sophomore Blair Buder was named the Female Diver of the Year. Johns came to NAU in 1996 from Clemson, where he trained the sprinters, including one NCAA All-American. Prior to that, he spent three years as head coach at Northeast Missouri State (now Truman State). During his tenure, his teams set 45 school records and five athletes posted their first national qualifying times. Johns is well-respected in the swimming research community, having presented at the American College of Sports Medicine national meeting twice, first about the effects of warm-up in 1991 and tapering in 1992. Johns is published in many sports medicine journals, including the International Journal of Sports Medicine and Medicine and Science in Sport in Exercise. He was awarded a research fellowship from the Institute of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina in 1990. As a collegian at East Carolina, Johns helped his team to the Colonial Athletic Association title in 1989. Prior to ECU, he was a junior-college All-American, earning the honor eight times in two years at Broward (Fla.) Community College. Outside of his time as a coach, Johns has performed with the Flagstaff Light Opera Company and is a member of The Flagstaff Master Chorale whom he sang with at Carnegie Hall in March 2012. Johns received his bachelor's degree in physical education from ECU in 1989 and followed that with a master's in exercise physiology in 1991. Johns and his wife, Misha, have two daughters, Ali and Maddie, and have two grandchildren.

Nikki Kelsey, a nine-time Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Diving Coach of the Year, begins her 28th year at the helm of the Northern Arizona diving program, a squad that she has consistently led to the NCAA Zone Diving Championships. Kelsey, who is also a four-time National Independent Conference (NIC) Diving Coach of the Year, takes her team into their 17th year of WAC competition ahead of the 2023-2024 season. The 2022-23 season was one of historic proportions for Kelsey and her divers. At the 2023 WAC Conference Championships, NAU saw six of its divers place in the top-eight places in the 1-meter and 3-meter events. It was more success for the Lumberjacks at platform, with three divers finishing in the top-eight with two others scoring. All in all, NAU divers scored 267 points at the WAC Championships, the most ever diving points scored at the conference championship which dates back to 1991. Northern Arizona went on to win a 10th consecutive WAC title in 2023, the most consecutive ever in WAC history. Over the last 28 years, NAU has not had less than two divers who have competed at the NCAA Zone Championships under Kelsey's leadership. Last season, all nine female divers qualified to the NCAA Zone Championships, the first time in program history that has been accomplished. In all, Kelsey has coached 30 different divers to the zone diving meet on the women's side, a number that is double the amount who represented NAU prior to Kelsey's arrival. With Kelsey's guidance, NAU has routinely proven to be equal competitors with those from the Pac-12, Mountain West and Big West on the regional stage. While success on the boards has been prominent in describing Kelsey, her charges have also been superior in the classroom. The divers have helped the Lumberjacks be named an Academic All-America Team by the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) numerous times - an honor given to a team with a grade-point average of 3.00 and higher. She has coached two NAU Golden Eagle Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year (Courtney McKenzie, 2002-03; Chelsea Jackson, 2015-16; Emily Luberto 2022-23), two CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees (McKenzie, 2003 First Team; Lana Christensen, 2011 Second Team) and four different student-athletes to CSCAA Honorable Mention Academic All-America honors (Anna Deem, 2003; Alexa Geiger, 2014, 2015; Jackson, 2013, 2014, 2015; McKenzie, 2003). In the most recent season of 2020, Kelsey coached junior Jenny Cheetam to qualify for NCAA's, marking a huge accomplishment for both. The 2016-17 season was a special one for Kelsey as she coached sophomore Tatiana Kurach to the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships. Kurach became just the second women’s diver in school history to qualify for the national championships when she punched her ticket with a seventh-place finish on 1-meter at the NCAA Zone E Diving Championships. Kurach, who was later named NAU’s Female Athlete of the Year, placed 49th at the national meet to cap her first season at NAU. In addition to earning her second straight WAC Diving Coach of the Year award, Kelsey was also voted NAU’s Female Sport Coach of the Year in 2016-17. Led by Kurach, Kelsey's divers were pivotal in the Lumberjacks’ fourth consecutive conference championship. Kurach won her first career WAC gold medal on 3-meter while senior Alexa Geiger defended her title on 1-meter. Kurach followed Geiger’s footsteps in earning the WAC Diver of the Year honor. All five of NAU’s divers contributed points in each of the three diving events as they proceeded to account for a quarter of NAU’s winning point total. Kurach, Geiger and sophomores Raquel Gonzales and Christina Torrente each were named WAC Diver of the Week at least once during the season and combined for eight all-conference honors. Each of the four competed at the Zone Championships. The Lumberjack divers made a big splash at the WAC Championships earning Kelsey the honor of 2016 WAC Diving Coach of the Year. Kelsey's divers played a critical role in NAU capturing its third straight conference championship during the 2015-16 season and were led by junior Alexa Geiger, who was awarded the WAC’s Diver of the Year award. Geiger took home the hardware after winning gold on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards, while freshman Raquel Gonzales placed in the top eight in all three diving events. The ’Jacks put their stamp on the meet from the first individual event – placing all six of their divers in scoring positions – and never let up. For the second consecutive year, four divers combined for nine all-conference honors, and the momentum was carried over into the NCAA Zone E Championships where all six divers qualified – matching the most in school history. Senior Chelsea Jackson, a five-time WAC Diver of the Week awardee during the season, narrowly missed her bid to the NCAA Championships by placing 10th at the Zone Meet while Geiger was two spots back in 12th. At the 2015 WAC Championships, Kelsey's divers were the class of the competition, making their mark on the first day. All four of NAU’s scoring divers - juniors Chelsea Jackson and Carlye Townsend, sophomore Alexa Geiger and freshman Emma Simmonds - all placed in the top eight on 1-meter. After making a statement in the first diving event as a team, the Lumberjacks got their first gold medal of the championship when Jackson claimed the 3-meter title. In all, Kelsey's four divers accounted for nine all-conference honors, with Jackson and Geiger diving in the championship final in all three events. Kelsey also mentored freshman Alyssa Loeffelman to an impressive WAC Championship performance. Although she dove as a non-scorer, Loeffelman’s preliminary scores on both springboards would have been good enough to score points in the finals. Jackson and Geiger proceeded to dive at the NCAA Zone E Meet where Jackson placed 15th on 1-meter and 18th on 3-meter. Both Jackson and Geiger earned WAC Diver of the Week honors during the season, combining for three awards from the conference office. Kelsey's divers were an integral part of NAU's first-ever WAC Championship team in 2013-14 as all four of her divers scored points for the Lumberjacks at the conference meet. Sophomore Chelsea Jackson led the way as she placed third on all three boards to earn three All-WAC first team honors. Kelsey also coached senior Jane Wakefield, sophomore Carlye Townsend and freshman Alexa Geiger to breakout performances at the WAC Championships. In her final conference meet, Wakefield scored on 1-meter and platform while Towsend earned a pair of All-WAC second team honors. Meanwhile, Geiger made a sensational debut on the conference stage placing in the top-seven on all three boards. All together, Kelsey's divers totaled eight all-conference honors. Jackson, Geiger and senior Gwen Smithberg represented NAU at the NCAA Zone E Meet highlighted by Jackson's 15th place finish on 3-meter. That trio also combined to win four WAC Diver of the Week awards during the regular season. Prior to NAU's championship run, Kelsey earned WAC Diving Coach of the Year in 2012-13 on the heels of senior Kristy Ardavanis' gold medal on 1-meter which marked the program's first WAC diving championship since 2008 and first on 1-meter since 2004. Junior Gwen Smithberg also claimed victory on platform in the same meet. Ardavanis, a 10-time WAC Diver of the Week honoree in her final two seasons, would up being voted NAU's Female Athlete of the Year and finished as an alternate for the national championship meet following a sixth-place finish on 1-meter at NCAA Zones. Kelsey earned her first WAC Diving Coach of the Year award in 2007-08 after senior Natalie Hughes became NAU’s first-ever gold-medal winner in diving in the WAC (3-meter) and was named the WAC Diver of the Year. In the eight years prior to joining the WAC, the Lumberjacks dominated conference competition in the NIC. NAU won 11 individual conference diving titles in eight years in the NIC women's competition under Kelsey's guidance, and earned four conference diver-of-the-year awards (including back-to-back honors by Kate Morgan in 2002 and 2003, and Blair Buder in 2004). Kelsey was named the Women's Diving Coach of the Year four times (1997, 2002, 2003, 2004). Prior to NAU, Kelsey spent two years at Clemson, where she was voted the 1996 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Diving Coach of the Year. With the Tigers, Kelsey coached both men's and women's diving teams to winning seasons, with the women's team being ranked in the top-25 of the national coaches' poll in 1996. She had one ACC champion each year and took five divers to the zone meet in 1996. Kelsey began her coaching career at her alma mater, Oakland University. She coached six All-Americans and three Division II national champions, being named Division II National Men's Diving Coach of the Year in 1994. At Oakland, she coached Dario D'Fazio, who represented Venezuela in the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics. As an athlete, Kelsey was a eight-time All-American and two-time national champion during her career at Oakland, where she returned every time the NIC Championships were held at the Rochester, Mich., school. Kelsey is a member of the Hollie L. Lepley Hall of Honor at Oakland for her athletic contributions to the Golden Grizzlies program. A 1991 graduate of Oakland, Kelsey has two adult children, Kayla and Darren.

Freddy Delgado joined the NAU Soccer staff as assistant coach in June 2025. Delgado arrived in Flagstaff coming off a three-year tenure at Menlo College where he served as head coach of the women's soccer program. He led Menlo College to 15 wins and back-to-back GSAC Tournament semifinal appearances in 2022 and 2023. Delgado developed six All-GSAC honorees, as well as five GSAC and NAIA Scholar-Athletes. After a stellar playing career at Division II Regis University, Delgado began his journey into coaching at his alma mater from 1997-2001, helping guide the women's program to back-to-back Rocky Mountain Conference titles in 1999 and 2000. During that time, Delgado was also a member of the coaching staff for the Colorado Olympic Development Program, and head coach of the Colorado Rush U16 boys club team.   Delgado moved to Louisiana to serve as assistant coach at University of Louisiana, Monroe from 2001-07. He helped guide the Warhawks to 58 wins during his stint, including a program-record 14 in 2004. This earned Delgado his first head coaching role at University of Arkansas, Little Rock. From 2008-12, Delgado amassed 33 victories, the fourth-most in program history and led the Trojans to their first-ever appearance in the Sun Belt Championship match in 2009.   Delgado also served as head coach at New Mexico State from 2014-17, guiding the Aggies to 24 wins, making him the winningest coach in the school's women's soccer history. Delgado also holds previous coaching experience at Utah Tech (formerly Dixie State), Colorado State University, Pueblo and at the club level for Fire FC, overseeing 70 teams and over 900 players.

George Eglesfield comes to NAU from CSU Bakersfield, where he served as lead assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from August 2023. Prior to his time in Bakersfield, he held coaching roles at UM Amherst, where he was assistant coach during the 2021-22 season. During that time, he also served as lead coach for the Amherst Tritons Swim Team. Eglesfield’s international coaching experience includes leadership positions with the North Canterbury Swim Club in New Zealand, and Apex Sports Academy in Dubai, where he helped establish a new club while serving as head coach of the North London Collegiate School swimming team. He also had the opportunity to coach on the international stage, serving as interim coach for the U.S. Virgin Islands World Championship team in the summer of 2019. From 2017 to 2019, he was a graduate assistant coach at Bryant, contributing to the Bulldogs’ first two Northeast Conference Championships in program history. He specialized in butterfly and sprint freestyle, and coached athletes who broke 10 NEC records during his tenure. As a student-athlete, Eglesfield competed at Wyoming from 2012-16, capturing the 2014 Western Athletic Conference title in the 200-yard butterfly. He graduated as the school record holder in both the 100 and 200-yard butterfly, as well as in the 200 and 400-yard medley relays. That same year, he became New Zealand’s National Champion in the 100-meter butterfly.