Bearzi sets 5k record in first day of Camel City Invitational

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (February 3, 2023) – The Milligan University indoor track & field team set a pair of schools records and had three national qualifiers on the first day of the Camel City Invitational at the JDL Fast Track on Friday.

Alyssa Bearzi improved upon her own indoor 5k school record and took the meet title in 17:06.10. Her converted time will fall under 17 minutes and is the No. 2 time nationally before conversion. She formerly set the school record on her way to All-America honors at the 2022 NAIA National Championships.

Sylas Chambers hit the NAIA "A" standard and set a personal best time in the 600 (1:20.59) to finish third. His effort bested defending 600 meter NAIA national champion Dylan Felger of Huntington and ranks seventh nationally pre-conversion. Carter Windham finished as a heat runner-up and seventh overall in 1:23.91.

Keith Fletcher notched the first national qualifying mark of his career with a personal best time of 8.37 seconds in the 60-meter hurdle prelims. He wound up with a sixth-place finish in the final (8.56).

Rebecca Glover and Kiley Wood hit Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) marks in the 600. Glover ran a personal best time of 1:45.71 and Wood finished in 1:47.70.

Evan Hayes ran to an AAC standard and won his heat in the 400 in 53.76. His time was good for 13th overall in his collegiate event debut. Megan Christian ran a season best 1:02.20 in the 400, a top five mark in the AAC this winter.

In the final event of the evening, Jeremy Evans, Ja'Quan Williams, Aaron Vaughn and Skylan Stephens posted a school record time of 3:25.44 to finish second overall.

"We didn't have a big squad going today but I think Keith really set the tone and then the rest just followed," said head coach Chris Layne. "Megan and Evan had solid 400s and then Sylas took a big step in the 600 and that was a great debut by Carter. Really happy for Alyssa. She has expanded her range with a few good miles so not at all surprised she was able to put that together tonight."

Milligan returns to action tomorrow with another competitive day at the Camel City Invitational.