Milligan College Buffaloes

MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TENN. (Nov. 13, 2007) --- The Milligan College women's cross country team made plenty of noise on their way to capturing their fifth consecutive AAC /Region XII title by decimating their opposition and scoring a perfect 15 points with room to spare. Contrastingly, Head Coach Chris Layne quietly accepted his fifth consecutive AAC / Region XII Coach of the Year award while plotting the next move for the team to achieve their greater goal at the national level.

Coach Layne, in his eighth season at the helm of the Milligan College track and cross country programs, has seen the Buffaloes go from strength to strength.

“We've definitely come a long way,” commented Layne. “It takes time to reach these heights and beyond, and more so when your institution isn't a household name in the world of college athletics. It's been a fun journey with an excellent group of student-athletes to work with throughout the past eight years.”

Since its inception the track and cross country program at Milligan has attained more national qualifying marks than the other athletic programs at Milligan combined. Complimenting such honors are more than 20 All-Americans that Coach Layne has nurtured during his tenure. The upcoming national cross country champs expect to yield more.

“Development is the corner-stone of this program,” said Layne. “There are no ‘superstars' on this team, just a group of young ladies that want to be better, and for us to accomplish our goals in Kenosha we'll need to add a few more All-Americans to the list.”

The Lady Buffs 2006 National Cross Country Championship sixth place finish is the highest-ever team finish by any Milligan athletic team, and Coach Layne expects that this years no. 2 regular season national ranking is an indication of the next level the Lady Buffs are capable of for years to come.

Coach Layne guided Milligan's lone individual National Champion when Marta Zimon (Lodz, Poland) captured the 2003 NAIA Indoor 5000 meter crown. Layne has also had an immense impact upon three-time All-American Philip Rotich, a two-time national runner-up from Kenya, and the schools only 5-time All-American Megan Lease from North Carolina.

Accompanying his collegiate coaching experience Layne also coaches a talented professional post-collegiate group of athletes. Layne's wife Catherine, who currently runs for Nike, ran to a 5000 meter victory at the 2004 British Olympic Trials, and ultimately went on to run the Olympic Games B standard with a personal best time of 15:19 at the Huesden Grand Prix meet in Belgium that same year. Layne also guided former Texas A&M All-American Melissa Cook, now running for New Balance, to personal bests of 4:14 (1500m), 15:34 (5k), and 32:31 (10k) in 2007.