Milligan’s Indoor Track and Field teams saw 11 athletes earn All-American designations and broke six program records at the NAIA National Championships in Bookings, South Dakota. The championships began on March 3 and concluded on March 5.
The Buffs pushed off to a great start on an opening day as three program records were set. Sophomore Alyssa Bearzie ran the fastest indoor 5k in program history with a time of 17:20.47. This surpassed the previous time set at the 2014 NAIA National Championships of 17:22:49.
On the men’s side, freshman Eli Cramer also set Milligan’s men’s indoor 5k record of 14:44.53, placing him fifth in heat one. Aaron Jones finished third in heat two with a time of 14:48.30. This set up both Cramer and Jones to compete in the 5K final.
The women’s and men’s distance medley relay (DMR) teams also advanced to the final. The women’s DMR, including Caitlin Dominy, Megan Christian, Rebecca Glover, and Avery DeWolf Burton ran a time of 12:06.61, which broke the program record that stood since 2008.
Jake Crow, Sylas Chambers, Alex Windham, and Bryn Woodall, making up the men’s DMR ran a time of 10:08.59, winning heat one.
“Our teamwork is absolutely unbelievable.” said Cramer.” “Training with guys such as Aaron, Nathan Baker, Will Stockley, and Bryn Woodall, just to name a few, is a lot of fun. We all push each other in practice and more importantly, we are all good friends, so it makes the atmosphere great and is a big reason why this team is so good.”
Friday, March 4 included preliminaries for the men’s 800, men’s mile, women’s 1k, and men’s and women’s 3k.
In the men’s mile, Will Stockley ran a time of 4:13.56 to finish second in his heat. In the 800 meters, Sylas Chambers ran a time of 1:54.10, placing him second in his heat as well.
Senior Avery DeWolf Burton secured first place in the 3K with a time of 10:09.26. Caitlin Dominy ran a time of 3:00.67 which placed her fifth in the heat.
Dewolf explained the momentum over the course of the three days as challenging and exciting.
“When everyone does well at a meet like that the whole team has the motivation to keep it going,” she said. “It was easy to keep the momentum going throughout the day by cheering for a teammate. The meet itself was full of people taking risks.”
Milligan sent seven individuals to compete in the final championships on Saturday in their respective events along with the men’s and women’s distance medley relays.
On Saturday, the men finished 10th overall earning four individual All-America honors by Jones, Chambers, Stockley, and Woodwall. The men’s DMR also secured a top-eight finish.
The women’s team finished 34 overall including two All-American awards earned by Dewolf and the women’s DMR. Dewolf placed fifth in the 3k with a season-best of 10:02.46. The women’s DMR finished sixth with a time of 12:15.35.
“Getting 10th at nationals was a big step forward for us,” said Eli Cramer. “The team is in a really great spot right now and I think that will help me continue to make some more progress. It’s easy to continue to get better when everyone around you is also working hard and striving for more and that’s exactly what’s happening.”
Bearzi shares Cramer’s positivity and excitement for the upcoming outdoor season.
“This experience has been the highlight of my collegiate career thus far,” Bearzi said. “I can’t wait to see what the entire team achieves in this outdoor season, and in the future.”
On March 19, Men’s outdoor track and field headed to Nashville, Tenn. where three buffs qualified for the NAIA national championship race that is set for May 27 in Alabama. This includes Alex Mortimer placing first with a time of 1:11:18, Evan Henson as runner-up (1:12:03), and Eli Baldy finishing fifth (1:14:29).
To stay updated on all Milligan Athletics, please visit Milliganbuffs.com
All photos were taken by Natalia Rivas Foster