No. 2 Men’s Cross Country hosts Eli Cramer Invitational

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (September 30, 2022) – The No. 2 Milligan men's cross country team had 19 runners compete in the Eli Cramer Invitational on the campus of Milligan University on Friday afternoon.

The meet was the third on-campus cross country race in program history and named after All-American Eli Cramer, who tragically died last spring. Local competitor Tusculum and Lees-McRae's "B" squad completed alongside the Buffs on Friday. Milligan finished first of the three teams with a team score of 15.

"Eli loved to race and there's no better way to celebrate his legacy than having these Buffs line up and compete," said head coach Chris Layne. "I know how proud he is watching this crew work to defend those national titles he was a huge part of and you could see that effort in how both teams got after it today - top to bottom."

Milligan cross country and track alumnus Tim Thacker won the event in 14:53 and the Buffs followed with nine of the next 11 finishers. Zimri Kuhn finished second to Thacker in his season debut. He posted a three-mile time of 15:16.

"It was great to get Zimri out there for the first time this season and I think this run will give him confidence heading into the back-half of the season," said Layne.

Sylas Chambers followed in third in 15:27. Carter Chavira ran 15:48 to finished fourth in his first race as a Buff. Samir Koko was fifth in 15:50 and Keaton Hincher placed sixth in 15:52.

Caleb Arias and Thomas Johnson made it seven Buffs in the top 10. Arias ran 15:58 and Johnson finished six seconds later. Sam Sosebee and Austin Walker were 11th and 12th respectively at 16:07.

Dillon Craig (14th), Alex Windham (15th), Kyle McDermott (19th), Carter Windham (20th), Mikel Valladares (22nd), Josh Osorio (23rd), Eli Hornbuckle (29th), Ben Cox (31st) and Ethan Lillycrop (32nd) also represented the Buffs on Friday.

"While this course is relatively flat, they're navigating a lot of turns each loop, so seeing so many positive results is a sign we continue to trend in the right direction," said Layne.

Milligan returns to McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte next week at the Royal Challenge.