No. 2 WXC impresses at Firetower Project Run

BOONE, N.C. (September 1, 2023) – The No. 2 Milligan University women's cross country team opened its 2023 season with a strong showing at the Firetower Project Run at Appalachian State on Friday.

The Buffs finished third in the 10-team standings, only behind NCAA Division I Florida State and host Appalachian State. Milligan had two top-five individual finishers and had all five scorers place among the top 35 individuals. The Buffs posted a team score of 77, 10 points back of App State and three points ahead of Mercer.

"Top to bottom, this was easily our best showing at App State to open up a season," said head coach Chris Layne. "I definitely think we still have the potential to look a lot different come November."

Ellen Mary Kearney paced the Buffs with a third-place individual finish with a 5k time of 17:48.24. Caitlin Dominy was fourth with an effort of 17:57.05. With Dominy and Kearney, the Buffs had two of the four sub-18 minutes runners at the meet.

Junior transfer Hannah Brown placed 17th in her Milligan debut in 18:41.51. Gracie Allen followed in 28th in 19:03.15. Patricia Barrera rounded out the Buffs' top five in 34th (19:21.47).

Kaelyn Slaughter (44th, 19:44.13), Natalie Fellers (47th, 19:52.33) and Anna Jones (49th, 19:59.97) all clocked in under 20 minutes and in the top 50.

"I feel like our returnees are picking up where they left off from track and that showed today," said Layne. "Then we had a number of newcomers step up and put themselves in the mix as well."

The Buffs return to action on Sept. 15 at the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational.