Buffs dive into break in national polls

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (Dec. 22, 2020) – A couple of meet wins and a handful of nationally ranked Buffaloes have the Milligan University men's and women's swimming teams earning national attention according to the latest NAIA top-10 polls. The Buffaloes closed the fall semester by defeating the No. 10 team to jump to No. 7 in the latest men's poll. Milligan's women entered the receiving votes category this week after a similarly successful fall semester.

This is the third straight week Milligan ranks inside or near the top 10 of the national poll on the men's side.

"I'm really proud of the progress both teams made in the first semester, but we're not done yet," Head Coach Spencer Scarth said. "I expect January to bring up some different and unique challenges that I know our team is capable of handling. We have to keep in mind the teams that stay healthy through this are the ones that will succeed at the conference and national meets."

Underclassmen posting veteran results

Freshman Stephen Gilbert is a large part of Milligan's fall success on the men's side. Gilbert owns several marks that rank in the top five in the nation, including the No. 2 200 backstroke and No. 2 200 individual medley. He also has five national qualifying marks and ranks in the top eight in six events. Similarly, sophomore Ben Hawkins owns two top-10 marks in the NAIA, ranking No. 10 in both the 1000 freestyle and 50 breaststroke.

Gilbert and Hawkins have combined to win Appalachian Athletic Conference swimmer of the week honors all three times the Buffaloes have competed this season. Gilbert has won twice after leading the Buffs over King and Lees-McRae in the first week of the season, then at Carson Newman in the second meet of the season.

Hawkins won AAC swimmer of the week Milligan's most-recent time out, when the Buffaloes crushed No. 10 Union.

Five nationally ranked Buffs on the women's side

The underclassmen have been a key part of Milligan's success on the women's side as well. Freshman Gabby MacPherson owns five of the nation's fastest swims, including ranking No. 2 in the 200 butterfly, No. 4 in the 100 butterfly and No. 5 in the 500 freestyle. Fellow freshmen Bre Coley (No. 2 in 100 individual medley), Tyler Cates (No. 3 in 200 backstroke) and Kaylee Williams (No. 4 in 100 and 200 breaststroke) also rank in the top five nationally.

MacPherson, Williams and Cates all are AAC swimmers of the week this season, as Milligan has won three of the four awards so far.

Senior Maggie Blazo, a six-time NAIA All-American, leads Milligan upper class with two No. 7 swims (200 freestyle and 200 backstroke).

Looking forward to 2021

The fall is wrapped up for Milligan, but the Buffaloes have a full slate set for 2021. They open with a trip to Columbia, South Carolina, to face Columbia (women) and St. Andrews before finishing up the regular season with three more events in January. After that, Milligan will compete in the AAC Championships, currently set for Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 11-13, in Kingsport, Tennessee, followed by the NAIA Championships, set for Wednesday-Saturday, March 3-6, in Knoxville.

"We have a lot to look forward to next semester," Scarth added. "Training with the group that has stayed on campus has gone very well, and the group training at home has been able to make that work, fortunately, especially with all of the changing restrictions across the country. We just need to have three or so more weeks of consistency until we have the whole team back on campus, and then it will be full steam ahead to conference!"