Milligan College Buffaloes

Milligan women dominate Tri-Conference Champs

Milligan College, Tenn. (April 20, 2008) --- The Milligan College men's and women's track and field teams competed at the Tri-Conference Track and Field Championships over the weekend on the campus of Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, N. C. The meet consisted of teams from the Appalachian Athletic Conference, and the Carolina Conference and SAC Conference from NCAA Division II. The Lady Buffs easily won the meet with 160 points, while conference rival King College finished second with 129.50 points.

"The AAC really can't support a conference meet on its own so joining forces with the other area conferences is a great way to simulate how a real championship event would play out. Our kids did a tremendous job of competing on a weekend that offered almost every type of weather, not to mention the altitude," said head coach Chris Layne.

Milligan sophomore Rebecca McDowell (Mechanicsville, Va.) started off the weekend with a dominating win in the women's 10,000 meters. She was joined in the next three places by teammates Ashley Pearce (St. Cloud, Fla.), Erika Fox ( Gambrills, Md. ), and Emily Schmitt (Avon, Ind.) to record a clean sweep of the event. McDowell's time was a new school record and an NAIA national A standard qualifier for the outdoor championships. Since Banner Elk is at altitude, the times for Pearce and Fox also fall under the national qualifying standard after the conversion. Junior Wegene Degefa (Rochester, N.Y.) finished fifth in the men's 10,000 meters, while junior Will Frye (Pulaski, Va.) finished eighth.

Senior MacKenzie LaBonte (Port Charlotte, Fla.) won her 3,000 meter steeplechase debut with a national qualifying mark, while Fox bounced back from the 10,000 meters to finish third.

The Lady Buffs recorded another clean sweep in the women's 1500 meters. Junior Jacklyn Talbert (Mt. Carmel, Tenn.) ran away from the field to win easily and run under the national qualifying standard. Senior Brittany Bales (Kingsport, Tenn.), junior Nicole Moore (Boise, Idaho.), and LaBonte finished second, third, and fourth in the event. Degefa finished third in the men's 1500 meters, while freshman Michael Kaal (Gilbert, Ariz.) finished ninth in a new lifetime best mark.

In the women's 800 meters, Milligan grabbed four of the top five spots led by Talbert's win and national qualifying run. Sophomore Shanna Raines (Johnson City, Tenn.) finished second followed by freshman Kayla Moody (Avon, Ind.) in fourth, and Moore in fifth.

The final Lady Buff sweep of the afternoon came in the women's 5k. The Milligan quartet of Pearce, McDowell, freshman Lili Zaldana (Bristol, Tenn.), and Schmitt ran together for most of the race before Pearce pulled away from the field. McDowell finished second, followed by Schmitt in third and Zaldana in fourth. Degefa, who is training for the marathon at outdoor nationals, completed a busy weekend with a runner-up finish in the men's 5,000 meters.

In the field events, freshman Chelsea Leavell (Springfield, Tenn.) won the women's discus throw and finished second in the shot put. Freshman Mike Kimson (Elizabethton, Tenn.) finished second in the men's discus and fifth in the men's javelin. Freshman Kayli Bates (Wise, Va.) finished third in the women's triple jump.

In AAC scoring the Lady Buffs finished second, while the men finished third.

"Our main priority is outdoor nationals so we weren't going to spread our team thin to just pick-up points. We have nine athletes qualified in fourteen different events, so we'll continue to focus on being ready to jump far, run fast, and throw far in late May," said Layne.

Milligan's women are coming off their second straight team victory in a row, after winning the University of the Cumberland 's Invitational last weekend. Both squads will see limited action at next weekend's Radford Invitational.