Distance medley relay notches top prelim time
Gabrielle Mardis, Kiley Wood, Bekah Owen and Avery DeWolf scorched the track with the fastest preliminary time in the distance medley relay to advance to the final and highlight the No. 18 Milligan University women’s track & field team’s efforts on day one of the NAIA Indoor Championships. The events are being held at Ruth Donohoe First Dakota Fieldhouse on the campus of Mount Marty University.
YANKTON, S.D. (March 3, 2021) – Gabrielle Mardis, Kiley Wood, Bekah Owen and Avery DeWolf scorched the track with the fastest preliminary time in the distance medley relay to advance to the final and highlight the No. 18 Milligan University women's track & field team's efforts on day one of the NAIA Indoor Championships. The events are being held at Ruth Donohoe First Dakota Fieldhouse on the campus of Mount Marty University.
The relay team nearly broke the Milligan record with a time of 12:18.15, roughly 10 seconds faster than all but one other competitor. Milligan owned the No. 3 seed heading into the championship event.
Another Milligan relay team to move up a few spots was the 4x800 crew consisting of Valentina Kenjeres, Kaelyn Slaughter, Rebecca Glover and Caitlin Dominy. The Buffs moved up three spots to take 13th overall in the national field. Their time of 9:43.93 marked a season best.
"I was proud of both relays," said Head Coach Chris Layne. "Our 4x8 was going to have a tough time advancing, but we improved on our ranking coming in and that was a season best for us so we'll take it. The DMR crew looked sharp and took care of business, but I think the final on Friday will be very competitive top to bottom."
Women's national championship events continue Friday, as Thursday and Saturday will feature men's events. For a full list of start times for Milligan, please see below.
Thursday
11:15 a.m. – Men's DMR Semifinal
12:40 p.m. – Men's Mile Semifinal
3:35 p.m. – Men's 3k Semifinal
Friday
2:30 p.m. – Women's 3k Final
3:00 p.m. – Women's 5k Final
3:25 p.m. – Women's DMR Final
Saturday
11:30 a.m. – Men's Mile Final
2:30 p.m. – Men's 3k Final
3:25 p.m. – Men's DMR Final
(All times local/CST)