It was another successful outing for the Milligan College men's and women's track teams this past weekend at the Nashville Distance Solution hosted by tnrunning.com on the campus of Vanderbilt University.
Leading the Lady Buffs with a win, personal best, and national qualifying mark in the open 1500 meters was freshman Jacklyn Talbert (Mt. Carmel. Tenn.) with a time of 4:45.06. The mark was nearly nine seconds faster than her previous best. Sophomore Kortney Goulds (Johnson City, Tenn.) followed closely in second with a time of 4:45.60, just off her lifetime best. Goulds, who was already qualified for the national meet, again dipped under the national standard.
In the women's invitational 800 meters, sophomore Brittany Bales (Kingsport, Tenn.) finished third and lowered her lifetime best to 2:20.42. Bales' time was a four second improvement on her previous best.
For Milligan's men, All-American Chris Wright (Ocean City, Md.) lowered his school record and lifetime best in the 5000 meters with a time of 15:03.96, also earning a trip to the outdoor national championships, while junior Jair Collie (Johnson City, Tenn.) won the men's open 1500 meters in a new personal best time of 4:07.94, a three second improvement on his run at the inaugural AAC Outdoor Championships earlier in the season.
Both squads will now prepare for the NAIA National Championships held in Fresno, Ca. on May 25-27.