No. 1 Men’s XC finishes as runner-up showing at competitive Royals Challenge

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (October 7, 2022) – The No. 1 Milligan University men's cross country team finished second of 28 teams at the Royals Challenge at McAlpine Creek Park on Friday evening.

All five of the Buffs' finishers placed in top 50 of the 257-man race. Milligan was one of two squads to finish with a team score under 100 as the Buffs finished with 94 points. The Buffs finished ahead of nine NCAA Division I teams and 10 regionally-ranked DII squads, including division II's No. 4 (Wingate) and No. 10 (Charleston). Milligan posted a total time of 125:22 and a spread of 56 seconds.

"I think the most encourage thing is we have a lot of work in our legs right now and we still were able to race the way we did - that's encouraging," said head coach Chris Layne. "It was hot today and this course gets pretty dusty when it's dry but I think our crew handled that well and in both cases got after it on the backside of the race."

Will Stockley and Aaron Jones both notched their second-straight top-10 finish as Stockley finished sixth in 24:36 and Jones was eighth in 24:38.

Bryn Woodall finished 21st in 25:04. Jake Crow (39th, 25:29) and Alex Brittain (43rd, 25:32) rounded out the Buffs' top five. Dawson Reed crossed 49th (25:39) and Arran Kearney placed 58th (25:47).

"Will bounced back well today," said Layne. "Dawson took another step and then I thought Arran's run really stood out."

Zimri Kuhn and Pablo Rivas were 72nd and 73rd respectively as both registered times of 26:05. Evan Henson and Sylas Chambers both were among the top 100 finishers as Henson ran 26:23 and Chambers finished in 26:32.

Milligan heads to the NAIA Appalachian Challenge in Knoxville on Friday, Oct. 21 in the Buffs' final tune-up before the Appalachian Athletic Conference Championships.