Three school records fall for Indoor Track on opening day of NAIA National Championships

BROOKINGS, S.D. (March 3, 2022) – Milligan University's indoor track and field teams posted an impressive first day at the NAIA National Championships as the Buffs advanced individuals and relays to Saturday finals in all four events and set three program records at the Sanford Jackrabbit Athletic Complex on Thursday.

"A really strong day one for our crew - super proud of them," said head coach Chris Layne. "Tough to find a spot they didn't exceed expectations, but we still have a lot of work to do the next two days. This is a great facility and this league is rally deep right now so we'll have to be on point the rest of the way"

In the women's 5k prelims, Alyssa Bearzi ran the fastest indoor 5k in program history (17:20.47) to win her preliminary heat. She surpassed the Lauren Grindstaff's mark of 17:22.49, set at the 2014 NAIA National Championships. Bearzi's time was the top mark in qualifying and she race in the final on Saturday at 4:35 p.m.

Aaron Jones and Eli Cramer punched their tickets to Saturday's 5k final on the men's side. Cramer set Milligan's men's indoor 5k record of 14:44.53 to finish fifth in heat one. Jones ran 14:48.30 to finish third in heat two. Alex Mortimer was 23rd in qualifying with a PR of 15:12.62. Cramer and Jones will run the 5k final on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

In the distance medley relay prelims, Caitlin Dominy, Megan Christian, Rebecca Glover and Avery DeWolf Burton ran a school record time of 12:06.61, breaking program record that stood since 2008. Going into the final leg, Burton was the last anchor runner to receive the baton and proceeded to run a 4:57 mile to secure the top time in the heat and second-fastest time overall in the DMR prelims. Milligan will run in the women's DMR finals on Saturday at 5:20 p.m.

Jake Crow, Sylas Chambers, Alex Windham and Bryn Woodall closed the day with a 10:08.59 in the men's DMR prelim to win heat one. The Buffs' owned the third-fastest preliminary time of the 10 teams that advanced to Saturday's 5:40 p.m. final.

The NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships continue tomorrow with the Buffs' slated to compete in preliminaries for the men's 800, men's mile, women's 1k and men's and women's 3k.