Indoor Track wins six titles on first day of AAC Championships

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (February 15, 2024) – The Milligan University indoor track and field teams won six Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) titles and both lead their respective team standings after the first day of the AAC Championships at the JDL Fast Track on Thursday

The Buffs won nearly half of the 14 contested AAC titles that were up for grabs on Thursday. Milligan's men won four titles, set one meet record and lead the 11-team AAC scoreboard with 64.5 points, 9.5 points ahead of second place Montreat. On the women's side, the Buffs won a pair of conference titles and lead the team standings by 20 points with a total of 74 points.

"We're really looking at small margins on both sides as we've been hit hard by sickness on the men's side and are missing some key folks," said head coach Chris Layne. "Really proud of both teams and how they competed and backed up each other. Really hard to find a spot where we slipped up tonight, but with the competitiveness of this meet, we'll need to do the same thing tomorrow."

The Buffs swept the top five spots in the women's 5k. Caitlin Dominy won the conference title in 17:36.54. Hannah Brown finished second in 18:05.50 and Patricia Barrera crossed third in 18:12.24. Dominy went under the NAIA's "A" standard, Brown's converted time went below the automatic national standard and Barrera's mark converted into a national qualifier. Ashlyn Haas finished fourth (18:19.50), Natalie Fellers was fifth (18:24.50) and Anna Jones placed seventh (18:39.70).

Aaron Jones broke his own AAC championship meet record in the men's 5k as he won in 14:42.13, an NAIA automatic qualifying time. Mitchell McCown (sixth, 15:45.18) and Tate Bowland (eighth, 15:51.35) also scored in the event.

Ellen-Mary Kearney repeated as the women's 1k conference champion. She clocked in at 2:56.35 to go under the NAIA automatic qualifying standard. McKenzie Fitzgerald finished fifth in 3:06.26 and Hope Krell followed in sixth in 3:09.82.

Will Stockley took home the conference crown in the 1k with an NAIA "A" standard in 2:28.13. Carter Windham placed fourth in 2:32.97 and Sylas Chambers earned a point with an eighth place showing in 2:35.44.

Romario Taylor and Ja'Quan Williams finished first and second in the men's 400-meter dash. Taylor claimed the conference title in 49.84 and Williams crossed second in 50.51. Skylan Stephens placed sixth in 51.23.

Megan Christian ran to a runner-up finish in the 400 in 1:02.11.

Jayci Brauman, Rachel Dulaney, Sophia Jeffers and Annie Kate McDermott finished fifth in the women's DMR in 14:15.75.

Hunter Crook advanced to tomorrow's 60-meter dash final as he finished second in heat four in 7.09 seconds. He had the top time among sprinters who did not win a heat to advance to the conference's final eight in the event.

Keith Fletcher posted the top time of heat two in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.49 to move on to tomorrow's event final. Reese Pesterfield also advanced to the final with a qualifying time of 9.33.

Macy Hinkle posted a third-place finish in the women's high jump at 1.46 meters. Conner Mowell tied for fifth in the high jump mark of 1.78 meters. Hannah Manns and Autumn Stanley both scored in the triple jump. Manns was sixth in 10.26 meters and Stanley finished eighth in 9.65 meters. Kacey Webb reached the final group in the weight throw and finished ninth at 13.42 meters.

The AAC Championships wrap up tomorrow.