Track & field remaining bright in national spotlight

MILLIGAN COLLEGE, Tenn. (Feb. 6, 2020) – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association announced indoor track & field national polls, ratings and rankings this week, and the Milligan College track & field program continues to have a dominating presence near the top. Milligan's men remained in the top 15 at No. 14 while the Milligan women earned the top spot in the South Region by a long shot.

"I'm really pleased with where we stand as it relates to both programs," Head Coach Chris Layne says. "We're not finished yet, but we've been working hard to get established in the top 25 conversation indoors and outdoors on a consistent basis, and I'm starting to see us turn that corner."

National marks

The Buffs have plenty of high individual marks to support their high team marks. Both teams, in fact, have nine national marks inside the top 25, including five on the men's side that rank in the top 10.

Rasheem Brown, a two-time national champion last season, is No. 1 nationally in the 60-meter hurdles. Tim Thacker is No. 4 in the 1k and No. 8 in the mile. Tons Ferguson highlights the field events crew with the No. 9 mark in the triple jump, and Milligan's distance medley relay team of Nathan Baker, Ronan Philippot, Alex Windham and Thacker ranks No. 5.

On the women's side, Bekah Owen owns two top 10 marks as the No. 7 woman in the 5k and No. 10 woman in the 3k. Three other Buffs rank in the top 25 in the 5k: Avery DeWolf at No. 18, Amy Ferguson at No. 20 and Gabrielle Mardis at No. 21. DeWolf also ranks No. 18 in the 3k, and Ferguson has already qualified for outdoor season with one of the top half marathon times.

Rounding out the women's rankings and indoor national qualifiers is Katlyn Haas, who ranks No. 17 in the mile.

Event squad rankings

In addition to national rankings, the USTFCCCA provides event squad rankings, which measure a program's "squad" of athletes in each particular event. Milligan boasts some high numbers in these categories as well.

The women's team holds the No. 1 ranking over 5000 meters, one of five groups in the top 15 and one of four groups in the top four. The 1k and 3k groups come in at No. 3 while the mile crew ranks No. 4.

The Milligan men hold four event squad rankings in the top seven, including the 5k group at No. 3, the 1k group at No. 4 and the mile group at No. 5.

"As we continue to build other areas of our program, it's very important to make sure we continue to be competitive at the national level in the distance events," Layne says. "The event squad ratings give us a unique perspective that we wouldn't have so it's really cool to have this tool and to have USTFCCCA supporting our sport in this capacity."

On the upcoming schedule

The Buffs will put their national marks and high event squad rankings to the test again this weekend when they head to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the Camel City Invitational at JDL Fast Track. It will be the penultimate tune-up to the Appalachian Athletic Conference Championships, set for Thursday-Friday, Feb. 20-21, also at JDL Fast Track.

"Camel City is always a weekend we have circled on our schedule," Layne says. "The meet is competitive and it's easily one of the fastest flat 200 meter tracks in the country."