Women’s XC heads into NAIA National Championships with No. 2 national ranking

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (November 7, 2023) – The Milligan University women's cross country team was listed as the No. 2 team in the final NAIA Women's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 rating before the NAIA National Championships, the association announced on Tuesday.

The Buffs were ranked No. 2 in every edition of the NAIA top-25 this season. Milligan has collected a top-10 national ranking in every poll in the 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons. College of Idaho earned the top spot with 16-of-20 first-place votes with Milligan receiving four first-place nods.

Milligan clinched its 21st-straight trip to the NAIA National Championships as the Buffs claimed their 18th Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) title at the AAC Championships last Friday. Milligan had five of the top seven finishers and won the meet with a team score of 17 for the Buffs' fourth-straight conference title.

Milligan posted a total team time of 106:42 and had nine runners record top-10 6k times in team history.

Ellen-Mary Kearney repeated as the AAC champion and AAC Runner of the Year as she won the 6k race with a team-record time of 20:55.

Caitlin Dominy (second, 21:14), Hannah Brown (third, 21:20), Zanelle Willemse (fourth, 21:30) and Gracie Allen (seventh, 21:40) each earned All-AAC First Team honors.

Patricia Barrera and Natalie Fellers both collected All-AAC Second Team status. Barrera finished 11th in 22:05 and Fellers crossed 13th in 22:16.

The 2023 NAIA National Championships are Nov. 17 at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course in Vancouver, Wash. where the Buffs won the 2021 NAIA national championship.