JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Milligan University's outdoor track & field squads concluded their weekends at the AAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Sidney Smallwood Track inside Kermit Tipton Stadium on the campus of Science Hill High School on Saturday. Milligan's men came away with the AAC team title for the second straight year, while the women placed fourth.
The women's 5000m was a prolific event on the track for the Buffaloes, as Ellen-Mary Kearney (2nd, 16:57.25), Karly Wiljhelm (3rd, 18:15.30), Ashlyn Haas (6th, 18:26.97), and Anna Jones (7th, 18:34.81) earned points.
Champion number one of the day was Bryn Woodall for the men, as he ran a 14:39.44 to notch a title in the 5000m. Winston Telford placed third with a mark of 14:45.23. Zimri Kuhn then came in fifth with a 15:15.67.
Kearney then took the women's 800m title with her mark of 2:11.10 to earn a huge 10-point haul.
On the men's side, Milligan took the top three spots and five of the top eight in the 800m. Luis Peralta (1st, 1:50.78) won the event, followed by Woodall (2nd, 1:51.06), Carter Windham (3rd, 1:51.53, NAIA 'B' standard), Sylas Chambers (5th, 1:52.36) and Douglas Cornfield (8th, 1:56.83).
McKenna Spaulding took home the runner-up spot for the 3000m Steeplechase on the women's side.
Alex Brittain put forth an AAC Championship effort in the men's 3000m Steeplechase, notching a time of 9:46.18. Joshua Starr also scored in eighth for Milligan with a 10:57.78.
The Buffs' women's 4x400m Relay placed fifth in 4:11.62, as Mary Custodio, Kearney, Morgan Wilson and Hope Krell combined for the effort.
For the men, it was Kaleb Spears, Peralta, Aaron Vaughn and Brayden Simpson who teamed up to win the AAC championship and notch an NAIA 'B' standard mark of 3:15.71, which was just behind their season best of 3:15.59.
In the field, Corey Greeson's Discus Throw of 46.90m put him as the AAC runner-up, earning him eight points.
Autumn Stanley came in seventh in the women's Triple Jump, leaping 10.34m.
Zion Reddick ended up as the runner-up in the men's Shot Put, as well, managing 14.24m on his best toss.
The remainder of the men's Decathlon was completed on Saturday, as Phillip Lotivio won the conference title with 5686 points and Brendon Gibson ended up fourth with a total of 4559 points in the standings.
The Buffs men ended the weekend with 199 points, taking the title by 73 points over the remainder of the field. For the women, it was a fourth-place finish with 107 points, just 24 points back of the eventual champs from Columbia.
Both teams will be sending prospective qualifiers to the Blue & Gold Track Classic in Emory, Va. on Apr. 26, attempting to pick up more qualifying marks before nationals get underway one month from now.
