Buffs, Lady Buffs blaze to finals

By Jeff Birchfield
Johnson City Press

Johnson City, Tenn. (Mar. 8, 2008) --- Milligan College's Brittany Bales throttled back at times during the 1,000-meter race at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships at Memorial Center on Friday. It was still the best run of her life.

Bales finished in 2:58.69, four seconds faster than her previous best and second-best overall in the 1,000 heats.

“I've been ready for a while,” said Bales. “Coach (Chris Layne) told me, ‘You are as fit as you've ever been. Go out there and race and have fun.' I just went out there and let my training prove what I've been doing.”

Bales finished her heat race on the heels of Simon Fraser's Heather Mancell whose time was 2:58.56. She wanted to win the preliminary, but had to keep in mind today's finals are when All-American and National Championship honors are decided.

“I had some kick left at the end, but I had to be smart and save it for tomorrow,” said Bales. “I just tried to stay with the Simon Fraser girl and let her keep the pace. I just wanted to stay comfortable.”

She settled into fourth place on the opening lap and didn't get boxed in when it was time to make the move on the second lap. On the final lap, all that separated her and Mancell was air and distance.

“I've been working on that in practice to stay calm and relaxed,” said Bales about her tactical maneuvering. “If you get going with a pack, you have to stay with them. It's hard when you get boxed in to not force a move. It's really hard when you want to go, because you want to get aggressive and get around them. If you don't get around, you end up spending too much energy. It gets tough, but I knew I had to stay relaxed.”

It was the second race which Bales qualified for the championship round. She was the second leg of the Milligan women's Distance Medley Relay team along with Nicole Moore, Jacklyn Talbert and MacKenzie LaBonte which set a school record of 12:15.41. A third-place performance easily qualified them for today's final.

LaBonte also qualified for the 3,000 individually with a time of 10:21.34. She was third in her heat, four seconds behind the College of Idaho's Stephanie Helm.

Talbert qualified in the 1-mile with the eighth-best preliminary time of 5:06.08. Rebecca McDowell was the final Lady Buff to make the finals with a time of 18:05.19 in the 5,000. Wegene Degefa was the lone representative for the Milligan men with an 8:37.60 good for seventh-place finish in the 3,000.

“Everybody I felt like should have been in the finals, minus one spot in the 5k, made it to the finals,” said Layne. “We certainly had some bright spots with Brittany, Jacklyn having great runs. I was really proud of Wegene today. Ben (Ronoh) made a nice step even though he didn't make the final and then Rebecca had a nice run.”