Milligan College Buffaloes

by Jeff Birchfield
Johnson City Press

ELIZABETHTON, TENN. (Nov.4, 2007) --- Milligan College was perfect and then some at the women's NAIA Region XII cross-country meet at Sycamore Shoals State Park on Saturday.

The No. 2 nationally-ranked Lady Buffs took all five top spots to earn a perfect score of 15 and capture a fifth straight regional title. Add in Nicole Moore, who finished right behind her teammates, and Milligan made it a clean sweep of the top-six positions.

“We wanted to go 1-5 and we went 1-6. That was a nice surprise,” said Rebecca McDowell, who finished second individually. “It was the first time we've ever had six runners all come in under 19 minutes.”

MacKenzie LaBonte (Port Charlotte, Fla.) captured the meet's individual title with a time of 18:36.6 over the five-kilometer course. She bolted out to an early lead and stayed well ahead of the pack throughout the race.

“I ran with my heart, with my guts and pulled through,” she said. “It felt good. I was looking back to double-check and see if anyone was behind me. I never discount my opponents and just had to make sure no one was there.”

A herd of Lady Buffaloes followed her across the finish line. Rebecca McDowell's (Mechanicsville, Fla.) time was 18:42.9, followed by Jacklyn Talbert (Mt. Carmel, Tenn.) at 18:48.9, Erika Fox (Gambrills, Md.) 18:52.4, Ashley Pearce (Kissimmee, Fla.) 18:52.7 and Nicole Moore (Boise, Idaho.) at 18:53.7.

“We set up a plan for MacKenzie to run really hard, to run the legs off the lady from UVa.-Wise (Brittany Killough) because we knew she would try to break us up,” said Milligan head coach Chris Layne. “Our other ladies knew what was going on and laid back on the first lap. They executed the plan perfectly. As a coach, that was very pleasing.”

It was somewhat expected for LaBonte, McDowell and Talbert to earn the top-three spots. Fox credited the rest of the Milligan sweep to a pack-training regimen system.

“We've been using the system to help us train,” Fox explained. “We were slow the first mile, but it helped us control our pace over the course of the race.”

No other teams were able to keep pace as King College placed second overall in the standings at 74 points and Montreat was back in third with 110 points.

Milligan's head coach added it was important to build momentum with the NAIA National Championship meet just two weeks away. The strong showing also gave the Lady Buffs confidence they can compete with No. 1-ranked Simon Fraser out of Canada.

“We have a great team,” LaBonte said. “I feel every day of work we put in over the summer has now paid off. I think we've got a shot at the nationals.

“We've worried all this time about Simon Fraser. I believe they should be worried about us too, because they've been on our minds every single day.”

The ladies team, along with alternates, will be joined by Milligan men Ben Ronoh (Mogogoseik, Kenya) and Wegena Degefa (Rochester, N.Y.) at the National Championships.

Ronoh took the Region 12 men's individual championship with a run of 25:27.1 over eight kilometers. He crossed the line over 23 seconds ahead of Bryan's Daniel Goets with Degefa in third at 26:53.3.

“I was saving to run a 24:20 but there wasn't anyone behind me,” said Ronoh, a freshman from Kenya. “So I prepared myself for nationals because I hope to win the nationals. I just didn't have pressure from the other teams. The other teams were so relaxed.”

The race started in the crisp, morning air with frost on the ground, but Ronoh said the cold conditions didn't bother him.

In the overall team standings, Bryan won by a 29-54 margin over Milligan. King College came in third with 129 points.

Racing for a final individual spot in the National Championships, King's Daniel Hamilton edged Milligan's Will Frye (Pulaski, Va.) by a half-second. The Buffs' Aaron Wood (Aurora, Colo.) finished 12th overall, one position and 12 seconds behind Frye.

“That was a little disappointment for us,” said Layne. “We talked about it to be careful the first part of the race. Ben executed well and although Wegene didn't execute as well, he was talented enough to qualify. Those other boys just went out too fast.”

The NAIA National Championship meet at Kenosha, Wisc. is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 17. For more information about Milligan College cross country go to www.milliganbuffs.com