Posted by - Tue, Nov 7, 2006 - [Women's Cross Country] - Viewed 762 times
MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (November 7, 2006) --- With a dominant performance at the 2006 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC)/NAIA Region XII Championships on Saturday, the Milligan College women’s cross country team moved up to No. 8 in the final NAIA national rankings released before the NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Championships.
Milligan, then ranked No. 10, won their fourth-straight AAC/NAIA Region XII Championship Saturday morning over conference foe VirginiaIntermontCollege. The Lady Buffs placed three runners in the top-4 and 11 of the top-18 were from Milligan. Milligan’s 28 points were better than Virginia Intermont’s 47 points and third-place King (Tenn.) College’s tally of 100 points.
With their win, Milligan earned their fourth-straight berth in the NAIA Women’s Cross Country National Championships scheduled for Saturday November 18 at E.P.TomSawyerState Park in Louisville, Ky. E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park was also the site of the AAC/NAIA Region XII Championships held Saturday.
Leading the Milligan charge was MacKenzie LaBonte (Port Charlotte, Fla.) and her second place individual finish, a lifetime best 5,000 meter time of 18:42. Sophomore Jacklyn Talbert (Mt. Carmel, Tenn.) followed LaBonte closely in third with a personal best time of 18:43.
“It’s been exciting to watch both MacKenzie and Jacklyn improve week after week, it’s definitely carrying over to the rest of our program,” said head coach Chris Layne, the 2006 NAIA Region XII and AAC Women’s Coach of the Year.
Freshman Rebecca McDowell (Mechanicsville, Va.) finished fourth in a new lifetime best time of 18:50. McDowell has been a mainstay in Milligan’s third position the second half of the season and has seen almost a 40 second improvement on her 5,000 meter best from high school.
“Rebecca is all about business and it’s carrying over to her performance on the cross country course,” said Layne.
Rounding out the team’s scoring were juniors Kortney Goulds (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Brittany Bales (Kingsport, Tenn.) Both ran career-best times as Goulds finished ninth overall with her time of 19:20 while Bales crossed the line in tenth place, 11 seconds behind Goulds.
Milligan will travel nine women to the national meet with three of those women from area high schools.Talbert (Volunteer), Goulds (HappyValley) and Bales (Dobyns-Bennett), join Labonte, Ashley Pearce (St. Cloud, Fla.), Marta Zimon (Lodz, Poland) and Nicole Moore (Boise, Idaho).
Milligan’s men will also be represented as former Science Hill standout Jair Collie (Johnson City, Tenn.), and Will Frye (Pulaski, Va.) qualified for the national meet as individuals. Both Collie and Frye earned All-AAC honors.
Simon Fraser (B.C.) University remained No. 1 while Concordia (Calif.) University jumped over Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) University to second. Black Hills State (S.D.) University and Cedarville (Ohio) University rounded out the top-five in fourth and fifth respectively.
