Aaron Jones, men’s DMR advance to finals at NAIA National Championships

BROOKINGS, S.D. (February 29, 2024) – Aaron Jones and the men's distance medley relay punched their tickets to Saturday's final for the Milligan University indoor track and field team on the opening day of the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships in South Dakota on Thursday.

Jones, the defending NAIA national champion in the indoor 5k, advanced to Saturday's event final with a season-best time of 14:38.95. He finished third in heat one to automatically advance and finished eighth overall in the 5k field.

"I thought Aaron did a nice job with his heat and managed getting the qualifier with enough left in the tank and still grabbed a season best," said head coach Chris Layne.

Milligan's men's DMR squad of Will Stockley, Ja'Quan Williams, Carter Windham and Bryn Woodall earned automatic qualification to the final as the Buffs were the runners-up in heat three in 10:00.21, the second-fastest time in qualifying. The time also set Milligan's program record.

"Saturdays DMR is going to be a battle," said Layne. "The men did a nice job to easily get us through and I believe that was also under our school record, but we're going to have to be on point Saturday to be in the mix."

Ellen-Mary Kearney placed ninth in heat one of the 5k in 18:17.08. Hannah Brown was 14th in the second 5k semifinal in 18:41.31.

"Really just one hiccup today, but Ellen-Mary has been in a good place so I trust she'll bounce right back and be ready for the mile tomorrow," said Layne.

Milligan's women's DMR unit of McKenzie Fitzgerald, Megan Christian, Hope Krell and Anna Jones finished 16th in 12:43.18.

"Extremely proud of our women's DMR," said Layne. "With the exception of Megan, who had a really strong 400 leg, this bunch didn't have a lot of experience but they handled themselves so well with breakthrough legs all the way around."

The Buffs continue in event prelims tomorrow at the NAIA National Championships with the men's and women's mile, men's 60-meter hurdles, men's 400, men's 800, and men's and women's 3k.