LEXINGTON, Va. – On Friday night, the Milligan University indoor track & field squads continued their seasons on day one of the VMI Invitational in Lexington, Va.  

Mary Custodio began the festivities by competing in the women's Pole Vault and leaping 2.75m, which is a personal-best mark, as well as the second-highest vault in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) so far this year. 

Milligan's men's 4x800m Relay placed first with a time of 7:41.07. The quartet of Sylas Chambers (1:56), Luis Peralta (1:52), Carter Windham (1:58) and Bryn Woodall (1:53) set the NAIA's No. 1 time of the season to this point by better than seven seconds. 

The women's 4x800m Relay team followed that up with a sixth-place finish of their own. Anna Jones, McKenzie Fitzgerald, Joanna Halterman and Rachel Dulaney posted a 9:57.97, which was an improvement on their performance at the Mondo Collegiate Invitational last weekend. 

Kaleb Spears stepped into a slightly unfamiliar role as a 60m Dasher. The typical event is the 400m, but that did not stop him from posting a career-best 7.37-second time in the 60m race. 

Both Joy Reks (11.94m) and Annika Hoefler (11.48m) reached AAC Championship standards in the women's Weight Throw, as well. 

Brayden Simpson's 60m Hurdles run earned him a spot in Saturday's final, as he achieved a personal-best time of 8.38 seconds. That was the sixth-fastest time on Friday in the event. 

Milligan had four of the top six runners in the men's 5k, as Alex Brittain led the way with the triumph in 15:33.88. Bryson Lewis came across three seconds later to place third, while Sam Kyker came in fourth and Zimri Kuhn finished sixth. 

Patricia Barrera finished fourth on the women's side of the 5k, clocking in at 18:50.30, while Hannah Brown crossed behind her in fifth. 

The men's Distance Medley Relay took the title, as Peralta, Romario Taylor, Jaiden Carmichael and Winston Telford combined to score a 10:18.09 time. Telford's mile was run in just 4:18. 

Next up, the women's Distance Medley Relay saw Ashlyn Haas, Isabelle Johnson, Ellen-Mary Kearney and Alyssa Bearzi team up to place second with a time of 12:29.39. Kearney stood out in her 800m portion, clocking in at 2:13 on her leg. 

In the men's Weight Throw, Corey Greeson had a season-best throw of 13.59m to round out the first day of competition for the Buffs. 

The squads return to Lexington tomorrow looking to tack on even more to this already wildly successful weekend.