Outdoor Track & Field impresses at CIU Invitational

 COLUMBIA, S.C. (March 19, 2022) – The Milligan University track and field teams wrapped up their outdoor opener with a slew of standout performances on the final day of the CIU Invitational on Saturday. In the team standings, Milligan finished third out of 21 teams while the women were fourth of 18.

"A really great start to the outdoor season," said head coach Chris Layne. "I'm seeing a lot of growth and development from our throws squad as well as the entire sprints, jumps, hurdles and vault group - our staff has done an incredible job to this point. When we see top 10 performances in those event areas in a meet like this, it's obvious we're taking the right steps. On the distance side, we knocked out a bunch of national qualifiers and that's a good sign because it was extremely windy all weekend, but this is a great track and this bunch just know how to get after it."

Will Stockley hit an NAIA "A" standard in 1500 in 3:53.00 to finish second overall. Bryn Woodall was third with a national qualifying mark of 3:54.05. Aaron Jones took fourth in 3:58.47, Eli Cramer was sixth in 4:01.84 and Zimri Kuhn finished ninth in 4:07.53. Alex Brittain (4:12.51) and Matt Huff (4:16.65) also finished in the top half of the 43-man field.

Avery DeWolf Burton took first in the women's 1500 with a national qualifying effort of 4:42.16. Caitlin Dominy finished second (4:48.10) and Alyssa Bearzi took third in 4:48.47. Lauren Spry (5:13.49) and Natalie Fellers (5:14.16) were 10th and 11th, respectively. Rachel Dulaney also finished in the top half of 32-woman field (5:22.08).

Sylas Chambers picked up a win in the 800 with a national qualifying time of 1:53.80. Alex Windham clocked in at 1:56.43 to finish fifth.

Skylan Stephens was the runner-up in the 400 meter dash with a 49.33 effort.

Rebecca Glover took second in the 800 with a 2:22.43 and Dulaney finished 11th (2:33.61).

Kiley Wood and Megan Christian both notched top-11 finishes in the 400. Wood ran 1:03.33 to take ninth and Christian was 11th in 1:03.74.

Keith Fletcher was seventh (1:03.64) and Kamdyn Lee was ninth (1:06.86) in the 400 meter hurdles.

Milligan's women's 4x400 relay of Christian, Glover, Wood and Jemimah Ndune finished second in 4:09.47. The Buffs' men's 4x400 unit of Jaquan Williams, Chambers, Windham and Stephens took third place in 3:23.30.

Milligan's 4x100 relay of Fletcher, Lee, Connor Goodrich and Williams clocked in at 43.36 seconds to finish sixth.

Ndune posted a 27.88 in the women's 200. Williams recorded a 22.71 in the men's 200.

Corey Greeson took third in his collegiate event debut in the discus (43.09 meters). Ellie Ayers finished fourth in the discus with a PB (33.18 meters).

In the long jump, Ndune and Ella Maiden both posted top-six leaps. Ndune jumped 5.15 meters while Maiden posted a 4.92 mark in her collegiate track debut.

Kade Hoilman set a personal best in the shot put with a 12.19 meter heave, good for seventh place. Joy Reks logged a 12th-place finish in women's shot put at 9.87 meters.

Halie Hawkins opened her outdoor pole vault campaign with a fourth-place showing after clearing 3.05 meters.

Milligan outdoor track heads to the Montreat College Invitational next weekend.