Alyssa Bearzi, No. 2 Women’s Cross Country claim AAC championship

CANTON, Ga. (November 6, 2021) – Alyssa Bearzi, Lemi Wutz and Avery DeWolf Burton finished 1-2-3 as the Milligan University women's cross country team captured its 16th Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) since 2003 at the AAC championships on Saturday morning.

Five of the top seven finishers at the event were Buffs as Milligan took home the team title with a score of 18, three points off a perfect day. No. 9 Montreat was the only other squad to post a team total under 100 as the Cavaliers finished second with a score of 41. Milligan's men also took the AAC team title for the third-straight season.

"Both of these squads are tremendously talented and extremely resilient," said head coach Chris Layne. "This was a great day for our student-athletes as well as those alumni that helped lay the foundation for this program."

Bearzi won the AAC individual 5k title by 34 seconds with a mark of 17:42. Along with the first-place finish in the 114-runner race, she collected AAC Runner of the Year honors.

Wutz was the runner-up in 18:16 and Burton took third in 18:19.

Gracie Allen (18:42) and Caitlin Dominy (18:52) secured top-seven finishes to round out Milligan's top five as Allen crossed fifth and Dominy was seventh.

Gabrielle Mardis finished 11th in 19:18 and Ali Burns was 16th in 19:35 to make it seven Milligan finishers in the top 16.

Natalie Fellers finished 23rd in 20:07 and Annie Kate McDermott was 24th in 20:10.

Milligan's other finishers included Anna Jones (20:19), Lauren Spry (20:42), Camila Rivas (20:58), Kaelyn Slaughter (21:27) and Marinda Walls (22:28).

Bearzi, Wutz, Burton, Allen and Dominy each collect All-AAC First Team honors while Mardis earned All-AAC Second Team applause. Fellers and McDermott landed spots on the AAC All-Freshman Team. Head coach Chris Layne was named AAC Coach of the Year for the 16th time.

"Alyssa has really looked sharp of late and with Lemi a little under the weather, that left the door open for her to step up, which she did in a big way," said Layne. "Just a solid effort from our women across the board. So good to see so many of them on the awards podium this morning and I can't say enough about the focus from the freshmen."

With the AAC championship, No.2 Milligan earns its 19th-consecutive berth in the NAIA National Championship meet on Nov. 19 in Vancouver, Wash. The Buffs posted their sixth-straight top-15 at the NAIA National Championship with a seventh-place showing last spring with two All-Americans.

"For both teams, it's now just about staying healthy and keeping our focus on Vancouver," said Layne. "We've been there before and there is a lot of national champs experience on both sides."