Men’s Cross Country wins 2023 NAIA national championship

VANCOUVER, Wash. (November 17, 2023) – The Milligan University men's cross country team captured its second NAIA national championship with four All-American efforts at the 2023 NAIA National Championships at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course on Friday.

The Buffs won their first-ever NAIA national title at Fort Vancouver in 2021 and used three top-10 finishers and four All-Americans efforts to win a second with team score of 93 points. Milligan edged out second-place St. Mary (Kan.) by five points in the second-closest NAIA national championship finish ever. The title marks Milligan's fourth-straight top-three team finish and fifth-consecutive top-15 showing.

"We knew it was going to be a dog fight on both sides and a lot played out like we thought it would and really felt there were five-to-six teams on both sides that could win this thing," said head coach Chris Layne. "So I'm extremely proud of both squads.

Bryn Woodall, Aaron Jones and Will Stockley each repeated as All-Americans with top-10 individual finishes in the 331-man race. Woodall crossed sixth in 24:56, Jones was seventh in 24:58 and Stockley placed ninth in 25:03. All three runners ran on the Buffs' 2021 and 2023 national title teams.

"What a turnaround for Bryn from two years ago," said Layne. "Watching all of these Buffs develop is so rewarding."

Freshman Bryson Lewis earned All-America honors as he finished 30th in 25:31. Zimri Kuhn clinched the Buffs' national title as he crossed the finish line in 25:50 in 52nd place.

Josh Hale (78th, 26:06) and Alex Brittain (101st, 26:16) completed Milligan's seven-man championship squad.

Milligan's all-time All-American count increased to 24 as the Buffs had four All-Americans for the fourth-straight year. Jones became the first athlete in program history to be a four-time cross country All-American. Stockley is the fourth three-time cross country All-American and Woodall is the seventh multi-year XC All-American in team history.

Layne was tabbed as the NAIA National Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.

The national title marks the ninth-straight academic year that the Milligan cross country or track programs won an individual team or national championship.

"It was just an outstanding day for cross country," said Layne. "The crowd was amazing, the weather was perfect and while it's nerve racking, it was pretty cool to not have a clue how these races were going to play out because it was so deep."