BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. – On Friday, Milligan University's men's and women's outdoor track and field programs returned for day two of the three-day Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The men's squad came into the day holding the top spot on the leaderboard, while the women's team sat in second place. The Buffs racked up six AAC event titles on the day, along with an NAIA "A" mark and a plethora of personal bests, but the men slipped to second place and the women sit in third.

The Milligan men opened day two of the decathlon with another York-led performance in the 110m hurdles. Landon York won the event in a personal-best 15.74, with Reese Pesterfield adding a personal-best 16.86 for third and Jordyn Winegar-Collis crossing in fourth at 17.46.

The men's 4x100m relay of Hunter Crook, Kaleb Spears, Kenny Carlton and Noah Eaker added two team points with a seventh-place 42.68.

The women's quartet of Aleah Soderman, Autumn Stanley, Hope Arnold and Jade Mansogo also finished seventh in 51.01.

The 4x800m relay was a different story for the Buffs. The men's team of Carter Windham, Marti Molins, Aaron Gottlied and Luis Peralta cruised to victory in 7:35.23, clearing the NAIA "A" qualifying standard and ranking third nationally for the 2026 season.

The women followed suit, as Kaylee Coll, McKenzie Fitzgerald, Gabriella Hoover and Ellen-Mary Kearney won their event in 9:24.23 to land at No. 13 nationally.

In the 400m hurdles, Brayden Simpson took the AAC men's title in a personal-best 53.10, clearing the NAIA "B" standard and earning a top-16 national mark. Freshman Kenny Carlton added a sixth-place personal-best 56.61.

On the women's side, freshman Aleah Soderman won the event in a personal-best 1:05.29 to crack the 2026 NAIA top 47, with Jade Mansogo (5th, 1:06.30 PB) and Mary Custodio (8th, 1:09.33 PB) also scoring for the Buffs.

Hunter Crook came up just shy of scoring in the men's 100m, but put together personal-best mark of 10.74 in a stacked AAC field.

The Milligan distance crews dominated the 1500m. On the men's side, Marti Molins took third in 4:00.73, missing second by 0.02 seconds, and Aaron Gottlied followed in fifth at 4:02.15.

The women turned the event into a takeover, claiming seven of the top eight spots and racking up 31 team points. Ellen-Mary Kearney led the way with a dominant wire-to-wire 4:37.73 win, her second event victory of the day. Karly Wilhjelm (3rd, 4:47.47 PB) and Joanna Halterman (4th, 4:48.69 PB) joined Kearney on the podium. McKenzie Fitzgerald (5th), Gabriella Hoover (6th, PB), Isabelle Johnson (7th) and Kaylee Coll (8th) filled out the rest of the scoring.

The Milligan one two pattern continued in the men's 400m, as Luis Peralta took the AAC title in a personal-best 47.53, clearing the NAIA "B" standard and ranking 16th nationally, with Kaleb Spears completing the 1-2 finish in a personal-best 48.16. Peralta's win was his second of the day after anchoring the winning 4x800m relay.

Back in the decathlon, York closed out a strong two-day effort with a personal-best 4:49.34 in the 1500m to win the event and lock down second place overall in the AAC with 5,886 points. York placed in the top three in seven of the 10 events. Pesterfield used a season-best 5:10.76 in the 1500m to climb into fourth at 5,306 points, and Winegar-Collis added a personal-best 5:20.45 for seventh.

The Buffs will return for day three of competition tomorrow with eight events remaining, looking to make a push to the top of the leaderboard.