Milligan University runners Aaron Jones, Alyssa Bearzi and Bryn Woodall show off their medals and plaques from winning races at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships.
Milligan University runners Aaron Jones, Alyssa Bearzi and Bryn Woodall show off their medals and plaques from winning races at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships.
Milligan University
Alyssa Bearzi added an indoor national title in the 5,000 meters to her 2021 cross country championship.
Milligan University Facebook
Aaron Jones, a Science Hill alumnus, celebrates his win in the men's 5,000 meter run.
Milligan University athletes Alyssa Bearzi, Aaron Jones and Bryn Woodall raced to individual titles Saturday at the NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Brookings, South Dakota.
{span}”What an incredible meet all the way around,” said head coach Chris Layne. “Hats off to the NAIA coaches who do so much with so little...such a competitive environment.”{/span}
Bearzi added to her legacy as one of Milligan’s most decorated runners ever by winning the women’s 5,000 meters.
The junior from Australia finished the run in 17:11.36, some seven seconds faster than runner-up Hannah Adler from Aquinas.
Bearzi was individual champion and led Milligan to the team championship at the 2021 cross country national championships. Lina May, the 2022 cross country champion, finished third in Saturday’s 5K.
On the men’s side, Jones won the 5,000 (14:26.68) over Peter Shippy from Dordt (14:28.61). Jones, a junior who attended Science Hill High School, bested his time in the preliminaries by 32 seconds to capture the win.
Woodall, a sophomore from Wales, set the pace in the men’s 3,000. The Milligan sophomore finished in 8:19.09 to win by two seconds over Joe Anderson from Dordt. He finished third at the 2022 championships and had the second-fastest time in prelims, some 11 seconds off his Saturday pace.
He was also part of the men’s distance medley relay team along with Will Stockley, Ja’Quan Williams and Sylas Chambers that finished sixth in 10:10.
Stockley placed fourth in the men’s mile (4:08.85), a feat matched by Ellen Mary-Kearney, who was fourth in the women’s mile (4:52.46).
Caitlin Dominy placed third in the women’s 3,000 meters (9:51.15).
The women’s distance medley relay team finished runner-up to Huntington as Dominy, Megan Christian, Rebecca Glover and Kearney combined to run 11:51.33.
{span}”We’re going to talk about these nationals champions a bunch more,” said Layne. “They’re an incredibly special bunch with a lot of running ahead of them but I don’t want the breakthroughs from folks like JaQuan and Rebecca on those DMR’s to get lost this weekend.”{/span}
Milligan finished in a tie for eighth in the men’s team standings and fifth in the women’s standings.
Southeastern University (Fla.) won the men’s title and Indiana Tech was the women’s champion.
{span}With the national titles Saturday, Milligan has produced a national champion in its running programs for eight consecutive academic and athletic years. The Buffs set four program records at the national championships with both DMRs, Kearney’s mile and Jones’ 5k surpassing the previous top times.{/span}
