Posted by - Wed, Aug 30, 2006 - [Women's Cross Country] - Viewed 481 times
MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (August 30, 2006) --- The Milligan College women's cross country team will enter the 2006 campaign as the eighth ranked team in the nation according to the NAIA preseason poll.
The Lady Buffs are coming off a tenth place finish at the 2005 NAIA National Championship and their third straight Appalachian Athletic Conference/NAIA Region XII Championship.
The Lady Buffs return six of last years top seven including Tennessee standouts Kortney Goulds (Johnson City) and Jacklyn Talbert (Mt. Carmel), as well as 2003 national champion Marta Zimon (Lodz, Poland).
Milligan will also look to transfer MacKenzie LaBonte (Port Charlotte, Fla.) and freshman Rebecca McDowell (Mechanicsville, Va.) to bolster the top of the line up. Last season, LaBonte led the Lady Bucs of EastTennesseeStateUniversity at the Atlantic Sun Championships, while McDowell brings a high school 5,000-meter best of 19:32 to the squad.
"This is a strong women's team, but it's a different story being in the top half of the poll versus the bottom half," said head coach Chris Layne.
Rounding out the returnees from last year’s team that finished tenth nationally are juniors Erika Fox (Gambrills, Md.) and Lindsey Davis (Johnson City, Tenn.) along with sophomore Emily Schmitt (Avon, Ind.)
The poll features NAIA powerhouse Simon Fraser University of Canada in the top spot, followed by CedarvilleUniversity and the University of British Columbia.
