No. 3 Men’s Cross Country geared up for NAIA National Championship meet

VANCOUVER, Wash. (November 18, 2021) – The Milligan University men's cross country team is ready to compete at the NAIA National Championships at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course in Washington state on Friday at 1:30 p.m.

Watch Live | Live Results

The No. 3 Buffs spent the entire 2021 season ranked among the top six teams in the NAIA Top 25 poll, peaking at No. 3 and earning first-place votes in multiple polls for the first time in program history.

Milligan captured its third-straight Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) championship two weeks ago with six of the top seven finishers overall. Sophomore Aaron Jones repeated as the AAC's individual champion and was joined by Will Stockley, Nathan Baker, Eli Cramer, Bryn Woodall and Jake Crow on the All-AAC First Team. Alex Mortimer rounded out the Buffs' top seven with an All-AAC Second Team nod. The Buffs' one-through-five spread at the AAC championship clocked in at 19 seconds (24:46-25:05).

During the regular season the Buffs picked up team titles at the Queen City Invitational and the NAIA Southern States Challenge. Milligan completely re-wrote the men's cross country 8k record book at the Royals Challenge when Jones set the program's all-time 8k mark of 23:55 and the Buffs recorded five of the top 10 times in program history.

Jones was the USTFCCCA South Region Athlete of the Year and head coach Chris Layne reeled in Coach of the Year honors from the AAC and the USTFCCCA.

Last season, Milligan made its fifth team appearance at the NAIA National Championships and recorded a third place finish, the best team showing in program history. Jones secured All-American status as a freshman with the top individual finish (8th) at the NAIA National Championships in team history. Baker (11th), Cramer (37th) and then-senior Tim Thacker (37th) all secured All-American honors with their efforts last spring.