No. 2 Women’s Cross Country finishes second at Royals Challenge

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (October 8, 2021) – The No. 2 Milligan University women's cross country team turned in another impressive showing at the Royals Challenge on Friday evening.

The Buffs took second in the "gold race" at McAlpine Creek Park that featured 29 teams, including four NCAA Division I programs. Several nationally-ranked NCAA Division II programs attended the event, including No. 8 Queens, No. 12 Wingate and No. 17 Cedarville.

Cedarville took home the team title with a team score of 38. Milligan posted a team total of 95, 58 points ahead of third-place Davidson.

"Another strong effort from both Lemi and Alyssa up front to set the tone for the women's team," said head coach Chris Layne. "We were without Gracie Allen, but Avery, Caitlin and Gabrielle ran well and filled that gap for us as all three had strong runs. I continue to really be impressed with our younger crew as well with Lauren running a big PB, along with a solid effort from Natalie and Anna. It was great to see both Annie Kate and Marinda have big breakthroughs today as well."

The Buffs placed three finishers among the top 11 in the 300-runner field. Five different Buffs recorded personal-best times at the event despite rainy conditions throughout the race. 

"Conditions were definitely less than ideal with heavy rain here all day long but I thought both teams kept their focus to take advantage of an extremely competitive environment," said Layne. 

Lemi Wutz paced Milligan for the third-straight meet with a fourth-place finish at 17:13.8.

Alyssa Bearzi added another top-10 finish with an eight-place showing in 17:37.6.

Avery DeWolf Burton ran a personal-best time of 17:43.1, good for 11th. She remains the fourth-fastest woman in program history, behind Wutz, Bearzi and Milligan Hall of Famer Hannah Segrave.

Caitlin Dominy posted a PR for the second-straight week at 18:18.4, good for 38th.

Gabrielle Mardis rounded out the Buffs' scoring five in 47th (18:29.0).

Lauren Spry posted a personal-best time of 19:15.7 to finish 100th.

Natalie Fellers crossed 141st in 19:40.0, Anna Jones finished 143rd in 19:41.6, and Ali Burns was 153rd in 19:52.0.

Annie Kate McDermott (19:58.8) and Marinda Walls (21:37.6) logged PRs.

Milligan cross country finishes up its regular season at the second annual NAIA Southeast Classic, hosted by South Carolina Beaufort on Oct. 23.