Alyssa Bearzi and Chris Layne claim USTFCCCA national awards

MILLIGAN, Tenn. (November 23, 2021) – Milligan University sophomore Alyssa Bearzi and 23rd-year head coach Chris Layne received national applause from the USTFCCCA on Tuesday evening.

USTFCCCA Release

Bearzi was named USTFCCCA NAIA Women's Athlete of the Year after becoming the first individual NAIA cross country national champion in school history last Friday. She outran the competition in the final 1k to claim the national 5k title in 18:14 at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course at the NAIA National Championship and helped women's cross country to its first-ever NAIA National Championship.

Bearzi, who hails from Seabrook, Austrailia, also captured the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) individual title with a 17:42 effort.

"This is really exciting for Alyssa," said Layne. "Her accolades coming out of Australia indicated she was going to be successful at this level. She started to emerge late in the season and never really looked back. She definitely has a quiet toughness and drive, but what really stands out is her understanding of what it takes to be successful in this sport and she has proven to be extremely coachable."

For Layne, he led the Buffs to their first and second NAIA National Championships in school history on the same day and claimed USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year honors for NAIA men and women. At the NAIA National Championships, the Buffs placed an event-high seven runners on the All-American teams, including a gender-best four on the men's side. Milligan was the only program to have three top-20 individual finishers in either championship race.

Layne adds USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year hardware to AAC, USTFCCCA South Region and NAIA National Coach of the Year honors. Milligan's men won their third-straight AAC title in 2021 while the women captured their 16th conference championship overall and made their 19th-consecutive trip to the NAIA National Championships.