Milligan College Buffaloes

Milligan College, Tenn. (Feb. 10, 2008) --- The Milligan College men's and women's track and field teams competed at Appalachian State's Limited Open Friday night, and then traveled to Murfreesboro for the Middle Tennessee Valentines Invitational Saturday afternoon. In all, both squads recorded seven new national marks for the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Milligan on March 6-8 in Johnson City.

Junior Jacklyn Talbert (Mt. Carmel, Tenn.) led the Lady Buffs with a runner-up finish in the women's 1000 meter run on Friday night at Appalachian State. She bounced back Saturday afternoon to finish third in the mile in 5:07.43, and fifth in the 800 meters at MTSU. Talbert's 1,000 meter time was a national qualifier and her mile time was a season best and national qualifying mark. Senior Brittany Bales (Kingsport, Tenn.) also recorded a national qualifier in the 1,000 meters on Friday night, while junior Nicole Moore (Boise, Idaho.) and Shanna Raines (Johnson City, Tenn.) ran to personal bests in the event.

Junior Emily Schmitt (Avon, Ind.) won the women's 3k at Appalachian State, while junior Kortney Goulds (Johnson City, Tenn.) finished second in the mile. In the women's shot put at App State , freshman Chelsea Leavell (Springfield, Tenn.) recorded a new personal best of over two feet in event and just missed the national standard, while freshman Lili Zaldana (Bristol, Tenn.) earned a national mark in the 3000 meters at MTSU.

Milligan's men were again led by junior Wegene Degefa (Rochester, N.Y.). The Ethiopian born New Yorker ran to national qualifying marks in both the men's mile and 3000 meters at Middle Tennessee. His times of 4:20.75 and 8:41.09 were season bests. Sophomore Aaron Wood (Aurora, Colo.) also made good on his double duty. On Friday night he ran to a national qualifying time of 2:31.63 in the 1000 meters, and Saturday finished third in the men's 800 meters in a time of 1:57.05. Junior Jamal Phelps (Chicago, Ill.) finished seventh in the men's triple jump at MTSU.