MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (February 10, 2007) --- Milligan College junior MacKenzie LaBonte (Port Charlotte, Fla.) achieved two more national qualifying times, picked up three victories, and anchored the women's 4 x 400 meter relay to a new school record at both the Appalachian State Limited Open and MTSU Valentine's Invitational.
On Thursday in Boone, N.C., LaBonte led a Milligan one-through-five finish in the women's 1,000 meter run that saw four Lady Buffs earn national qualifying marks. LaBonte cruised to the win in a time of 3:00, followed by junior Kortney Goulds (Johnson City, Tenn.) in second with a time of 3:02, sophomore Jacklyn Talbert (Mt. Carmel, Tenn.) third in 3:03, and junior Brittany Bales (Kingsport, Tenn.) in fourth in 3:06. All four women set lifetime bests with LaBonte's time currently ranking top five nationally.
Also picking up easy wins at App State were freshman Rebecca McDowell (Mechanicsville, Va.) in the 3,000 meter run in 10:37 and Jair Collie (Johnson City, Tenn.) in the men's 1,000 meter run with a time of 2:37. Sophomore Emily Schmitt (Avon, Ind.) finished fourth in the 3,000 meters, while junior Kristen Bartlett (Simseropol, Ukraine) lowered the school record in both the 55 meters and 200 meters. Junior Lindsey Davis (Johnson City, Tenn.) finished seventh in the women's mile and also set a new indoor personal best.
On Saturday, both squads traveled to Murfreesboro for the MTSU Valentine's Invitational where LaBonte dominated the women's mile in a new personal best time and national qualifying mark of 5:05, more than six seconds off her previous best. Two hours later, she came back to anchor the school record-setting 4 x 400 meter relay to victory. Joining her on the relay were Talbert, Bales, and Goulds.
"I was nervous going in to the weekend, but I kept telling myself I'm prepared for this and it all worked out," said LaBonte.
Goulds, a former multi-sport standout at Happy Valley won the women's 800 meters in 2:19 and on the way bettered her indoor best and improved on her national qualifying mark set earlier in the season. Bales finished fourth and earned her second national mark of the week with her time of 2:21.
Sophomore Ashley Pearce (St. Cloud, Fla.) and junior Erika Fox (Gambrills, Md.) performed well in the women's 3,000 meters as both women just missed the national standard of 10:43 but managed new personal best times of 10:44 and 10:45, respectively. Pearce finished fourth with Fox just behind in fifth.
Talbert, who already has national qualifying marks in the 800 meters, 1,000 meters, and mile had an off day in the women's mile, but still managed to finish sixth overall with a time of 5:16.
On the men's side, freshman Aaron Wood (Aurora, Colo.) won the men's 800 meters in 1:57.28, while teammates Collie and Will Frye (Pulaski, Va.) set new lifetime bests in the mile and 3,000, respectively. Collie's time of 4:27 was a second quicker than his previous best, while Frye's time of 9:00 took more than sixteen seconds off his previous best.
Junior Josh Ferry (Bloomington, Ind.) finished ninth overall in the men's 400 meters in 50.75.
"I'm especially proud of the way our women's team keeps responding, and while our men aren't deep, the quality continues to develop," said head coach Chris Layne.
Both squads are idle next weekend while Schmitt, Fox, and sophomore Nicole Moore (Boise, Id.) travel to Knoxville to run the Strawberry Plains Half-Marathon in an attempt to earn a ticket to the NAIA National Championships in the marathon in late May.