Lady Buffs run to third place finish at Disney
ORLANDO, FL (October 7, 2006) --- The Milligan College women\'s cross country team finished third Saturday at the Disney Cross Country Classic in Orlando, Fla.
Running against a field of 40 teams from NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA and junior college institutions from across the country, the Lady Buffs improved two spots from last year's fifth place finish.
Brigham Young (Utah) University, the nation's sixth ranked program in this week's NCAA Division I poll won the women\'s team title, while Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne finished second.
Leading the way over the 5,000-meter course for Milligan was ETSU transfer MacKenzie LaBonte (Port Charlotte, Fla.) and her in 21st place finish in the event. LaBonte's time of 19:00 was followed closely by sophomore Jacklyn Talbert (Mt. Carmel, Tenn.) with a time of 19:08 over the course. Rounding out the Lady Buffs top five were freshman Rebecca McDowell (Mechanicsville, Va.), senior Marta Zimon (Lodz, Poland), and junior Kortney Goulds (Johnson City, Tenn.)
McDowell finished with a time of 19:24, a new lifetime best while Zimon and Goulds recorded season best times, 19:28 and 19:43 respectively.
Sophomore Ashley Pearce (St. Cloud, Fla.) also recorded a new lifetime best of 19:52 to cross the finish line sixth for Milligan\'s 11th ranked women.
Juniors Brittany Bales (Kingsport, Tenn.) and Erika Fox (Gambrills, Md.) also recorded lifetime bests, as did sophomore Nicole Moore (Boise, Idaho).
Milligan\'s men also had a strong showing with their 13th place finish in a field of 40 teams.
Sophomore Will Frye (Pulaski, Va.) again led Milligan with a new 8,000-meter best of 27:11. Frye was followed closely by teammates Jair Collie (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Josh Ferry (Bloomington, Ind.) who crossed the line in 27:24 and 27:28, respectively.
Freshmen Aaron Wood (Aurora, Colo.) and Ben Anderson (Cookeville, Tenn.) rounded out the Buffs' top-five with new lifetime bests of 27:41 for Wood and 28:58 for Anderson.
The Lady Buffs remain undefeated against NAIA competition, as their only losses have come against NCAA Division I opponents.
\"Both teams took care of business this weekend, I\'m proud of the way they\'ve handled themselves to this point in the season,\" said head coach Chris Layne.
In other action, sophomore Emily Schmitt (Avon, Ind.) raced to a sixth place finish at the Bobcat Invitational at Lees-McRae (N.C.) College Saturday morning.
Milligan will race again Friday afternoon at the Appalachian State Invitational in Boone, N.C.