Buffs race to six national marks at Strawberry Plains

Strawberry Plains, Tenn. (Feb. 17, 2008) --- The Milligan College men's and women's track and field teams stepped off the track and on to the roads at the Strawberry Plains Half-Marathon Saturday morning. Both teams used the race to earn qualifying marks for the marathon at this year's NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in St. Louis in May.

Ethiopian born junior Wegene Degefa (Rochester, N.Y.) finished fourth overall in the race with a time of 1:11.44 to secure an automatic qualifier, while junior teammate Will Frye (Pulaski, Va.) ran to a qualifying time of 1:15.56 to finish seventh overall.

"Most of this crew will race indoor nationals in a few weeks, so we took a conservative approach to getting the marks out of the way," said head coach Chris Layne.

Sophomore Rebecca McDowell (Mechanicsville, Va.), the lone Lady Buff to run the race that won't contest the marathon this year, finished as the second female across the finish line in a time of 1:26.18, well under the A standard of 1:33.00. Senior Erika Fox (Gambrills, Md.), who cracked the top ten nationally in the marathon last season, was the third overall female finisher with a time of 1:28.07.

Juniors Emily Schmitt (Avon, Ind.) and Ashley Pearce (St. Cloud, Fla.) finished ninth and tenth, respectively, and also earned qualifying marks for the marathon.

For complete results visit www.ktc.org