No. 1 Women’s Cross Country starts strong at Covered Bridge Open

BOONE, N.C. (September 2, 2022) – The No. 1 Milligan University women's cross country team turned in an impressive showing in the Buffs' 2022 season opener at Appalachian State's Covered Bridge Open.

Against a field of mostly NCAA Division I competition, Milligan finished fourth of 13 teams at the Covered Bridge Open. The Buffs' team score of 135 was ahead of five Division I programs at the meet.

"Just a really solid team effort from our women," said head coach Chris Layne. "I think we had PR's from 4 of our top 5 and then a number of others. This isn't an easy course and then you put the altitude on top of that - this was a great way to start the season."

Caitlin Dominy led the charge for Milligan with a top-10 showing in the 135 runner field. Dominy posted a personal best cross country 5k mark of 17:51 to finish ninth overall. Her time vaults her into a tie for the No. 8 spot in Milligan's all-time cross country 5k top 10 leaderboard.

Freshman Lizzy Lucason also broke 18 minutes in her Milligan debut. She clocked in at 17:57 to finish 12th overall and nearly landed on Milligan's all-time cross country leaderboard in her very first race.

Defending NAIA national champion Alyssa Bearzi opened the 2022 campaign with an 18:29 effort, good for 28th-place. Freshman Olivia Doran followed in 32nd in 18:54.

Sophomore Rachel Dulaney made her collegiate cross country debut and rounded out Milligan's first five finishers in 73rd (19:53).

Natalie Fellers was 85th (20:05), Gracie Allen placed 91st (20:11) and Annie Kate McDermott finished 98th (20:28).

"Caitlin has shown tremendous development in practice and it carried over to a great run today," said Layne. "Lizzy ran tough the whole race and gave us a strong no. 2. Alyssa is just a little behind from where she was last year but she is such a competitor and I can't say enough about Olivia and Rachel to round out our top 5.

The Buffs return to action Sept. 23 at the Queen City Invitational in Charlotte.