Women’s Cross Country places fourth at NAIA National Championships

VANCOUVER, Wash. (November 17, 2023) –The Milligan University women's cross country team placed fourth with three All-Americans at the 2023 NAIA National Championships at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course on Friday.

"We knew it was going to be a dog fight on both sides and a lot played out like we thought it would and really felt there were five-to-six teams on both sides that could win this thing," said head coach Chris Layne. "So I'm extremely proud of both squads."

The Buffs had four top-50 finishes and finished with a team score of 145, a 32 improvement on Milligan's national runner-up team total last fall. The Buffs' fourth-place finish is the third-best in program history and marks the sixth top-10 national finish in the last seven seasons and a ninth-straight top-15 national placement. College of Idaho took home the NAIA national championship with four top-10 finishers and a team score of 68.

In the first year with a 6k national championship distance, Caitlin Dominy led the Buffs and collected All-America laurels with a 22:03 effort to finish 14th for the second-straight year.

"So happy to see Caitlin jump up there and lead this squad in her last collegiate race," said Layne. "Watching all of these Buffs develop is so rewarding."

Hannah Brown earned All-America honors in her first season as a Buff. After sitting in 59th place through the first 1,000 meters, Brown moved up throughout the race to finish 20th in 22:17.

Ellen-Mary Kearney repeated as an All-American in 21st place in 22:19.

Kearney and Dominy become the sixth and seventh multi-year cross country All-Americans in program history and Brown is the 14th student-athletes to collect All-America cross country honors at Milligan. The Buffs' all-time cross country All-American count grew to 22 as Milligan had three All-American finishers for the third-consecutive season.

Zanelle Willemse narrowly missed out on All-America status as she finished 42nd in 22:46. Gracie Allen appeared in Milligan's scoring five at the national meet for the third time in her career as she finished 78th in 23:23.

Patricia Barrera crossed 88th in her national championship debut in 23:26. Natalie Fellers finished 124th in 23:50 as all seven of Milligan's runners finished in the top half of the 333-runner field.

"It was just an outstanding day for cross country," said Layne. "The crowd was amazing, the weather was perfect and while it's nerve racking, it was pretty cool to not have a clue how these races were going to play out because it was so deep."