WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Milligan University's men's and women's indoor track & field squads sent two different contingents to two different locales on Saturday, competing at both the ASICS Sound Invite in Winston-Salem, N.C. and the Roanoke Joe LaRocco Invitational in Salem, Va. The teams had several top-three NAIA times, as well as a combined 15 personal-best marks.
ASICS Sound Invite
At the ASICS Sound Invite in Winston-Salem, Milligan's headliners were NAIA top-three showings from
Ellen-Mary Kearney in the Mile,
Luis Peralta in the 800m and
Marti Molins Rallo in the 800m.
Kearney clocked in at 4:45.42 to place second in the seeded women's Mile run, reaching a personal-best mark in the race and notched the second-best time this year at the NAIA level. It was also a Milligan school record time for Kearney. Peralta came in third in the men's seeded 800m, scoring a 1:50.77 to become the new NAIA No. 2 time this season. Molins Rallo came away in fourth place of the seeded 800m, clocking a personal-best time (1:50.79) by better than two seconds. He became the NAIA's third-fastest 800m clip of the 2025-26 campaign.
McKenzie Fitzgerald (8
th, 10:19.60, PB by over 30 seconds) and
Joanna Halterman (12
th, 10:28.78, PB by greater than 40 seconds) each had stellar runs in the women's 3000m.
In the men's 200m,
Hunter Crook placed 11
th in the seeded competition with a time of 22.62.
Noah Eaker also had a personal-best run in 22.84.
Karly Wilhjelm concluded her Mile run in second place, achieving a personal-best time of 5:05.23 in the race.
Aaron Gottlied then came in 11
th in the men's Mile, crossing the finish line in 4:14.07 to nab yet another personal-best time.
Bryson Lewis also ran a personal-best, finishing in 4:22.60.
Carter Windham also raced in the seeded 800m with Peralta and Molins Rallo, finishing 11
th in 1:53.28.
"This was a really good tune-up for the AAC meet next week," said head coach
Chris Layne. "In a perfect world, we would have been off this weekend, but you have to adapt and I thought they did so with a number of really strong performances today."
RESULTS
Roanoke Joe LaRocco Invitational
In Roanoke,
Brayden Simpson and
Landon York both came away with personal-best sprints of 7.11 and 7.27, respectively.
Kaylee Coll placed fourth in the women's Mile run with a time of 5:20.13.
The men's 60m Hurdles were run beautifully by both Simpson (2
nd, 8.28, season-best) and
Kenny Carlton (3
rd, 8.54, PB).
Aleah Soderman for the women was able to post a personal-best time of 9.60 in the 60m Hurdles, placing sixth in the event.
Faith Helton heaved the weight 11.74m in the women's Weight Throw, reaching a personal-best distance.
In the men's Weight Throw,
Trevor Sinard came just short of a national standard (17.48m), tossing the weight 17.36m for a personal-best.
Ana Canibano won the women's 800m, running a personal-best 2:21.75 to take the title.
Gabriella Hoover (3
rd) and
Sophia Jeffers (5
th) also placed in the event's top five.
Caleb Greene's 5000m run of 8:47.90 placed him fourth and also earned him a personal-best time.
In the men's Shot Put,
Zion Reddick managed a 14.11m toss to earn runner-up honors at the meet. Sinard returned in the Shot Put, hurling the rock 13.91m to place fourth in the event.
Hope Arnold (High Jump),
Jade Mansogo (60 Hurdles) and
Mary Custodio (Pole Vault) also were able to achieve Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) qualifying standards in Roanoke.
"Roanoke really gave a lot of folks the opportunity to get valuable reps or prep for the AAC," said Layne. "We also had a number of folks hit AAC standards, which really sets up well for next week!"
RESULTS
Next on the schedule for the two squads is the AAC Indoor Track & Field Championships in Winston-Salem, N.C. at the JDL Fast Track, where the men will be defending their title and the women will be looking to return to the top of the podium on Feb. 19-20.
