Indoor Track advances six student-athletes to finals on day two of NAIA National Championships

BROOKINGS, S.D. (March 1, 2024) – The Milligan University indoor track and field teams had six individuals advance to national championship finals in their respective events at the NAIA National Championships on Friday.

"Across the board, and even if we didn't make finals in some spots, I thought our crew really executed well and put themselves in the best position to advance," said head coach Chris Layne. "Even those that didn't move on outperformed their ranking coming in."

Ellen-Mary Kearney posted the top qualifying time in the women's mile at 4:59.44. She won the first preliminary heat and had the No. 1 prelim time by 0.14 seconds over Indiana Tech's Lisa Voyles. Voyles finished third in the event last winter with Kearney placing fourth.

Romario Taylor grabbed the final spot in Saturday's men's 400 meter final with a school record time of 47.99. Taylor finished third in heat one but finished eighth overall to secure spot in the final.

"Really excited for Romario and Coach Sebie on getting to that final and setting our school record," said Layne.

Caitlin Dominy and Ashlyn Haas moved on to the final in the women's 3k. Dominy earned automatic qualification by virtue of a runner-up finish in heat two in 10:22.53. Her time was the No. 3 mark in the prelims. Haas clocked in at 10:28.28 to finish 11th overall and move on. Patricia Barrera finished 18th in 10:49.33.

Will Stockley and Bryn Woodall secured automatic qualification in the men's 3k final. Stockley won heat one and finished third in overall qualifying in 8:38.49. Woodall was third in heat three and seventh among qualifiers in 8:29.59. Bryson Lewis was 31st in 9:01.24.

Keith Fletcher capped a standout indoor season with a 10th-place finish in the men's 60-meter hurdles. He finished third in heat two in 8.16 seconds. The five heat winners and the next three top times advanced to Saturday's final. Fletcher finished two spots and 0.04 seconds out of the final.

Arran Kearney ran a personal-best time of 1:55.82 in the 800. He finished fifth in preliminary heat two and 16th overall in the qualifying field.

Sylas Chambers finished sixth in heat one of the men's mile preliminaries. His time of 4:23.88 ranked 13th overall.

Milligan has individuals competing in national finals in five individual events and the men's distance medley relay tomorrow.

"This league keeps getting better and better and we'll see depth in so many of tomorrow's finals at another level," said Layne. "It's going to take our absolute best to just get on the podium."