Milligan College, Tenn. (May 19, 2009) --- The Milligan College men's and women's track teams set out to compete in the 58th Annual Men's and 29th Annual Women's NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships this week held at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.This year's championships will be run at the Ralph Korte Stadium on the campus of SIU-E. The events begin Thursday, May 21, and conclude Saturday, May 23. 

Seniors Will Frye (Pulaski, Va.) and Wegene Degefa (Rochester, N.Y.) head up the men's side as both will compete in the marathon which will be ran on Saturday beginning at 6 a.m. 

Junior Aaron Wood (Aurora, Colo.) is entered to compete in the men's 800 meter. Wood qualified with a time of 1:52.91 at the Liberty University Twilight Invite which currently ranks him 14th. The prelims for the men's 800 meter are scheduled for Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

Freshman All-American Austin Ellis (Charlottesville, Va.) rounds out the Buffs lineup as he is entered to run in the men's 5,000 meter. Ellis qualified with a time of 15:07.56 which ranks him in 19th place overall and is scheduled to compete on Friday at 7:30 p.m. 

On the women's side, senior All-American Jacklyn Talbert (Mt. Carmel, Tenn.) opens up competition for the Lady Buffs in the women's 1500 meter. Talbert's 1500 meter qualifying time of 4:39.74 currently ranks her 11th in the country and is scheduled to compete on Thursday at 1:35 p.m. 

Following Talbert is sophomore Lili Zaldana (Bristol, Tenn.) who will compete in the women's 10,000 meter. Zaldana's qualifying time of 38:28.24 currently ranks her 19th in the country. Zaldana is scheduled to compete on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. for the 10,000 meter finals. 

Senior Emily Schmitt (Avon, Ind.) is the final competitor for the Lady Buffs on the weekend as she is scheduled to run the marathon on Saturday. 

"Our primary focus for nationals is to run as fast as we can-the rest will fall into place," commented Head Coach Chris Layne.

For more NAIA Championship information, click here.