Milligan College, Tenn. (May 25, 2010) --- The Milligan College Track and Field program is sending six athletes to Marion, Ind., to compete in the 2010 Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The event starts on Thursday, May 27, and runs through Saturday, May 29, at the Outdoor Sports Complex on the campus of Indiana Wesleyan University.
"This young crew has had an outstanding spring, but I think we can get to the championships and take another step," Head Coach Chris Layne said. "We need to focus on individual performances and forget about where we finish in final results."
On the first day of competition, the Buffs take the spotlight as three Milligan men will compete. Tanner Payne (Georgetown, Tenn.) opens the championships for Milligan in the hammer throw finals. The dual AAC champion qualified with his throw of 163-9 at the AAC Outdoor Championships.
Aaron Wood (Aurora, Colo.) will compete in the 800-meters with trials set for 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The junior qualified for the event with a national "A" standard time of 1:53.28 at the High Point Vertklasse meet. Semifinals for the 800-meter run are slated for Friday with the finals being held on Saturday.
Austin Ellis (Charlottesville, Va.) closes out the first day for the Buffs as he will compete in the 10,000-meter run final. Ellis enters the event with the NAIA's ninth fastest time in the event with a run of 31:01.52 in the prestigious Sea Ray Relays at the University of Tennessee.
A pair of freshman will open up competition on Friday for Milligan as Lauren Hubbard (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Heather Exline (Glouster, Ohio) will compete in the semifinals of the women's 5,000-meter run. Both Hubbard and Exline qualified for the nationals at the High Point meet with times of 18:10.17 and 18:19.35. The finals are slated for Saturday afternoon.
Chelsea Leavell (Springfield, Tenn.) will compete in the discus throw on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Leavell improved on her national ranking at the Georgia Tech Invitational as she threw a national "A" standard 140-02.
