No. 2 Women’s Cross Country runs away with NAIA South States Challenge title

BLUFFTON, S.C. (October 23, 2021) – The No. 2 Milligan women's cross country team posted five of the top eight finishers and ran away with the team title at the second annual NAIA Southern States Challenge, hosted by USC-Beaufort on Saturday morning.

Milligan posted a team score of 20, thanks to the five single-digit scorers in the 121-runner field. No. 8 Montreat finished second with a score of 61. The Buffs recorded a spread of just over a minute (17:32-18:33) and an average time of 18:03, over 40 seconds faster than the Cavaliers.

"We've run here a number of times but this was a new course layout so I was anxious to see how this impacted times," said head coach Chris Layne. "There were definitely some challenging elements with soft footing, rough footing and a bunch of turns but I felt like both squads did a nice job with the elements and I think all things equal we had a number of them on both sides see their best overall effort of the season."

Lemi Wutz captured the individual 5k title with a 17:32 effort. Alyssa Bearzi was the runner-up, crossing in 17:45. Avery DeWolf Burton took third in 18:03.

Gracie Allen finished sixth in 18:21 and Caitlin Dominy placed eighth in 18:33.

Gabrielle Mardis was 18th (19:05), Lauren Spry took 26th (19:41) and Ali Burns crossed 31st (19:48).

Annie Kate McDermott and Natalie Fellers finished 39th and 40th as both posted 20:03 times. Anna Jones made it 12 Buffs in the top 50 at 20:37 to finish 47th.

"Just another really strong run from the women top to bottom," said Layne. "I thought a number of our ladies had their best race effort of the year. Lemi and Alyssa have been rock solid, Avery ran very well and I thought Gracie ran strong considering she missed a little training. I thought Caitlin may have had her best race to date, and Gabrielle is always going to be right there for us. It's also exciting to watch this group of freshmen and sophomore women continue to take steps and gain experience."

The Buffs look to capture their second-straight AAC title in two weeks at the AAC Championship in Canton, Ga.