No. 1 Men’s Cross Country takes third at Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG, Va. (September 15, 2023) – The No. 1 Milligan University men's cross country team placed third at the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational on Friday evening.

The meet included four NCAA Division I teams with Milligan finishing only behind Virginia Tech and ETSU. The Buffs finished ahead of NCAA Division III No. 15 Lynchburg and Division I's High Point and Howard.

"I really like how we competed today," said head coach Chris Layne. "This was a competitive field up front on both sides and probably the toughest course we'll see all year but they handled themselves well."

Aaron Jones, Bryn Woodall and Will Stockley each notched top-15 individual finishes in the 8k. Jones placed eighth in 25:11, Woodall was 10th in 25:17 and Stockley crossed 14th in 25:26.

"It's a good sign when we're lining up against a handful of D1 programs, especially the caliber of Virginia Tech, and our crew are mixing it up in the top 10," said Layne.

Freshman Bryson Lewis ran No. 4 for the Buffs with a 39th-place finish in 26:31. Sylas Chambers rounded out the scoring five in 26:50, good for 45th.

Josh Hale (53rd, 27:04) and Tate Bowland (65th, 27:37) completed Milligan's top seven.

Milligan hosts the Eli Cramer Invitational next Friday.