Aaron Jones shatters Milligan's 8k record as No. 4 Men’s Cross Country impresses again in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (October 8, 2021) – Aaron Jones, Nathan Baker and Will Stockley posted the three fastest times in program history as the Milligan University men's cross country team finished fourth among a loaded field at the Royals Challenge on Friday night.

The Buffs competed against 32 other teams in the "gold race" at the Royals Challenge. The race featured six NCAA Division I programs and several nationally-ranked NCAA Division II teams, including No. 8 Wingate, No. 16 Charleston (W.Va.) and No. 18 Queens.

Charleston took home the meet title with 42 points. The Buffs posted a team score of 136, just 13 points behind Wake Forest and three below Wingate. Milligan finished as the top NAIA program at the event and finished ahead of five NCAA Division I teams.

"These men are just clicking on all cylinders and we were still without a few that would have bolstered our top five-10," said head coach Chris Layne. "Fantastic running up front from Aaron and Nathan to get under 24 minutes for the first time, but honestly, I think we had a great day top to bottom with a bunch of personal bests."

The No. 4-ranked Buffs returned to McAlpine Creek Park after a historic outing on the same course two weeks ago. Eli Cramer break the school's nearly 10-year-old 8k record of 24:18 set by Austin Ellis in 2011 with a 24:17 effort. Despite rainy conditions in their return to Charlotte, the Buffs had four finishers surpass the Cramer's record-setting Sept. 24 mark.

"Conditions were definitely less than ideal with heavy rain here all day long but I thought both teams kept their focus to take advantage of an extremely competitive environment," said Layne. 

Jones became the fastest man in Milligan cross country history with a time of 23:55.7, good for 12th in the 337-runner field. Baker cross the finish line less than a second later at 23:56.4 to finish 13th.

Stockley and Cramer both eclipsed Cramer's previous No. 1 time with Stockley finishing 28th in 24:08.1 and Cramer takin 30th in 24:14.2.

Alex Mortimer joined the program's top 10 leaderboard at the No. 10 spot with a 24:59.3 effort, good for 69th.

Two freshmen rounded out the Buffs' top seven as Bryn Woodall made his Milligan debut and finished 91st in 25:19.2. Alex Brittain ran 25:32.5 to place 104th in his fastest outing of the season.

Ethan Pfister finished 110th and set a PR by nearly a minute at 25:34.7. Pablo Rivas also logged a personal-best at 25:42.9 to place 120th.

Sylas Chambers (26:01.9), Evan Henson (26:04.5) and Matt Huff (26:47.6) all set individual collegiate-best times.

Milligan cross country finishes up its regular season at the second annual NAIA Southeast Classic, hosted by South Carolina Beaufort on Oct. 23.