Women’s XC stays No. 1 in NAIA national rankings

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (October 13, 2022) – The Milligan University women's cross country team maintained its No. 1 national ranking in the third in-season NAIA Women's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 Poll.

The Buffs have received No. 1 status in the last five NAIA national polls dating back to the Buffs' winning the 2021 NAIA national championship last fall. Milligan owns the top spot by a single ranking point over Taylor. The Buffs collected 582 rankings points and 11 first-place votes while Taylor had 581 points and 10 first-place votes.

Milligan appeared in every set of national rankings dating back to 2015 and have been tabbed as a top-10 team in the last 24 polls.

The Buffs finished first of 27 teams at the Royals Challenge in Charlotte on Friday. The Buffs took the meet title with a team score of 75. The Buffs finished first over seven NCAA Division I teams, two nationally-ranked NCAA Division II teams, seven regionally-ranked DII teams, two regionally ranked DIII squads and two teams receiving votes in the NAIA top 25.

Ellen Mary Kearney ran the third-fastest cross country 5k in program history as she ran 17:22 to finish fourth overall. Caitlin Dominy recorded her third top-10 finish this fall as she placed ninth in 18:03. Alyssa Bearzi crossed 22nd in 18:24, Lizzy Lucason was 29th (18:30) and Olivia Doran followed in 40th (18:46).

Milligan sported a team total time of 91:06 and a had a one-through-five spread of 1:24.

Milligan heads to the NAIA Appalachian Challenge in Knoxville on Friday, Oct. 21 in the Buffs' final tune-up before the Appalachian Athletic Conference Championships.