No. 2 Men’s Cross Country set for NAIA National Championships

VANCOUVER, Wash. (November 15, 2023) – The No. 2 Milligan University men's cross country team is set to compete at the NAIA National Championships at the Fort Vancouver Historic Course on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

The Buffs have earned top-three national finishes in each of the last three seasons. The Buffs won the NAIA national championship at Fort Vancouver in 2021. Last fall, Milligan finished as the national runner-up at Apalachee Regional Park in Florida. The Buffs were ranked in NAIA's top five in all six NAIA national rankings in 2023.

Milligan won its fifth-straight Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) championship two weeks ago with a team score of 25, six top-10 individuals and seven all-conference honorees. Junior Bryn Woodall repeated as the AAC champion and was joined on the All-AAC First Team by Will Stockley and Aaron Jones. Zimri Kuhn, Bryson Lewis, Alex Brittain and Josh Hale collected All-AAC Second Team honors. Head coach Chris Layne was tabbed as the AAC and USTFCCCA South Region Coach of the Year. Woodall was selected as the USTFCCCA South Region Athlete of the Year.

During the regular season, Milligan posted a 91-5 head-to-head record and went 9-4 against NCAA Division I opponents. The Buffs notched notable head-to-head results over Wake Forest, NCAA Division II No. 3 Wingate, NAIA No. 7 Cumberlands and NCAA Division III No. 15 Lynchburg.

Last fall the Buffs ran to a second-place team finish at the NAIA National Championships. Milligan matched its title-winning team score of 2021 at 115 points. Four runners collected All-America honors with Jones (fourth), Stockley (ninth), Woodall (19th) and Jake Crow (38th) finishing in the top 40.