Season Preview: 2024 Women’s Cross Country
MILLIGAN, Tenn. – The Milligan University women's cross country team heads into a new season with high aspirations, coming off a fourth-place team finish at the NAIA National Championships in 2023. The 2022 season ended in a runner-up finish, while 2021 was the first team championship at the national level in program history.
Milligan is attempting to reclaim the highest honor in NAIA cross country, the national title, in 2024. The Buffs begin their season at Appalachian State's Firetower Project on Friday, Sept. 13.
2023 Season Review: The Buffs spent the entire 2023 season as the No. 2-squad in the NAIA coaches' poll. It has now been nine straight years that Milligan women's cross country has been raked in the top 25, continuously. They have now also been in the top 10 for four straight seasons.
At the 2023 NAIA National Championships at Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course in Vancouver, Wash., Milligan had three individuals earn All-America honors, as the Buffs finished in fourth overall with a team score of 145. Caitlin Dominy finished 14th for the second year in a row, newcomer Hannah Brown finished 20th and Ellen-Mary Kearney notched a 21st-place result.
The Buffs won their fourth straight Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) championship in 2023, making it 18 times overall that the Milligan women have won the title. Milligan finished the season winning four of their seven meets, a 100-7 head-to-head record with a 15-4 mark against NCAA Division I opponents.
"Watching Caitlin close out her career the way she did was rewarding," said head coach Chris Layne. "She's left big shoes to fill, but I feel like a lot of other women developed as the year went on and their effort late in the season should carry over to what we'll be able to do this year."
2024 Preseason Poll: The Buffs were picked to win the AAC, yet again, and received 10 of the 11 first-place votes.
2024 AAC Women's Cross Country Coaches' Preseason Poll
School (First-Place Votes) - Total Voting Points
1. Milligan (10) - 153
2. Montreat (1) - 144
3. SCAD Atlanta - 117
4. Columbia - 104
5. Truett McConnell - 97
6. Tennessee Wesleyan - 96
7. Bryan - 84
8. Reinhardt - 82
9. Columbia International - 80
10. Brenau - 70
11. Pikeville - 44
13. Union Commonwealth - 29
12. Bluefield - 23
"We have the potential to have three teams from our conference at the national meet and you never know who is going to be a surprise," stated Layne. 'We've gone from one of the smallest conferences in the country to now one of the largest and there are women up and down these rosters that continue to make this league better and better."
Key Returners: Milligan returns two 2023 NAIA All-Americans and will welcome the return of the 2021 NAIA cross country individual national champion.
Alyssa Bearzi returns to the fray in 2024, bringing experience to the roster, as well as a national championship pedigree. She has won both the 2021 NAIA cross country individual national title and the 2023 NAIA indoor track 5k national title.
"Obviously, it's great to have Alyssa back," Layne declared. "She brings so many different elements to this program. She buys in at every level and is really a lot of fun to coach because she trusts the process and you know she's going to give you everything she has day in and day out."
Kearney is coming off an AAC championship title as an individual, marking the second straight season that she has earned the plaudits. She maintains the possibility of a career sweep of the event, having won in both her freshman and sophomore campaigns. She also is a 2x NAIA All-American in cross country, sporting stellar finishes on the national level.
"Ellen-Mary has really come back on fire," said Layne. "She is arguably one of the most talented young ladies we've ever had in our program and she's also a great ambassador for Milligan. We had the honor of working with her brother and sister, so it meant a lot to us that she's wearing orange and black and not another color."
Brown is back for her second year as a member of the Buffaloes. She finished third as an individual at the AAC Championships last season, while coming in 20th at the NAIA Championships in Vancouver. With her efforts, she was an All-AAC and NAIA All-America honoree in her first year at Milligan.
"Hannah really delivered at the national meet last year and she's also been that young lady that makes Milligan a lot better as a whole," opined Layne. "It's a big adjustment coming across the country and I'm excited to see how this year plays out now that she has a year under her belt."
Patricia Barrera and Natalie Fellers are returning for 2024, having just come off of a season in which they both claimed All-AAC Second Team honors with 11th and 13th-place finishes, respectively.
"Patricia, Natalie, Anna and Ashlyn all fall into the same boat – as a team, we're gonna go as they go," Layne remarked. "They've all made tremendous strides in the time they've been with us and early indications are they're all gonna pick up where they left off outdoors last year."
Newcomers: Graduate transfer Kirsten Geary headlines the Buffs' incoming class after a successful collegiate career at Georgetown College (Ky.). She was an All-American in indoor track in the 5k during her time there. Faith Kipkosgei comes to Milligan from Kenya, where she sported a personal-best time of 18:19 in the 5k at altitude.
Freshmen Gracie Franklin (18:57) and Karly Wilhjelm (19:35) have the second and third-highest personal-best 5k times behind Kipkosgei.
The squad will also add freshmen Maddie Bennett (Nolensville HS, Tenn.), Joanna Halterman (Independence HS, Tenn.), Kendall Jarvis (John S. Battle HS, Va.) and Cami Vincent (Cumberland Gap HS, Tenn.). Two additional transfers will be coming in in 2024, McKenna Spaulding (Carson-Newman, Tenn.) and Morgan Wilson (Florida Gateway).
"This group not only makes us better on the cross country course, but they're going to be great additions to Milligan in general," Layne said. "I anticipate Kirsten will find a home in our top 5 and then the key with our freshmen is to just allow them time to adapt and find their rhythm. If that means they're making a big jump in year one, that's great, but that's not because we want to place that pressure on them."
Looking at the Schedule: Milligan's 2024 cross country schedule includes five regular season meets prior to the AAC and NAIA championships in November.
Milligan treks to a familiar course at Appalachian State (Sept. 13), and then will attend the Brevard XC Classic in Brevard, N.C. on Sept. 20.
The Buffs will travel to East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. to take on a litany of NCAA Division I and II opponents on Oct. 4.
The NAIA Appalachian Challenge returns to Sequoyah Park in Knoxville (Oct. 26) two weeks prior to the AAC championship (Nov. 8)
The NAIA National Championships will be held at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia, Mo.
"We always try to set-up our schedule based on the variables we'll see throughout the season and then ultimately at nationals," Layne explained. "We've not seen the national course but I've heard good things about it so we'll certainly do everything we can to be prepared for November."
Last Word: "There's a lot of pride in what this women's program has accomplished the last two decades," stated Layne. "During that time, they've never missed a national championship. I believe we've got a team that can get there again and then you hope to be in the conversation, but it will all play out when the gun fires on two very important weekends in November."