Men’s Cross Country climbs to No. 4 in NAIA Top 25

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (October 7, 2021) – The Milligan University men's cross country team rose two spots in the national rankings in the latest edition of the NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 poll that was released on Thursday.

The Buffs earned a spot in the rankings for the 18th-consecutive poll and are featured inside the top 10 for the fifth-straight poll. Indiana Wesleyan tops the rankings with 13 first-place votes and 578 points.

Milligan turned in a historic performance in the Queen City Invitational on Sept. 24 in Charlotte. Running at McAlpine Creek Park alongside 33 other teams, including five NCAA Division I programs, the Buffs took home the individual team title and re-wrote the school record book along the way.

Milligan's top five runners posted a ten-second spread (24:17-24:27) and all finished inside the top 11 in the 310 runner field. The Buffs' team score of 33 was 42 points ahead of second-place Queens, the No. 7 team in the USTFCCCA NCAA Division II National Coaches' Poll.

Sophomore Eli Cramer set the all-time program 8k record, clocking in at 24:17. The previous record of 24:18 was held by the program's only three-time All-American, Austin Ellis and nearly stood for 10 years. Cramer went on to be honored as the Appalachian Athletic Conference Runner of the Week.

Will Stockley (24:20), Aaron Jones (24:26), Jake Crow (24:26) and Nathan Baker (24:27) all jumped either in to or up in the program's all-time top 10 8k leaderboard. Stockley finished seventh, Jones ninth, Crow 10th and Baker 11th in Charlotte.

The Buffs return to McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte for the Royals Challenge tomorrow evening at 5:20 p.m.