Collegiate Record Holder In The 1,500m Races For Huntington And Wins First 6-Kilometer Race; College Of Idaho Women, Milligan (Tenn.) Men Win

By David Woods for DyeStat

Kim Spir photos

Addy Wiley opened – and closed – her cross-country season with another national championship Friday.

Coming off historic track feats, the Huntington (Ind.) sophomore won her first 6-kilometer race in the NAIA Championships in Vancouver, Wash.

In the NAIA’s first championship 6K, Wiley covered the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site course in 21:04.2, building all of her 12-second margin with a closing kilometer of 3:20. It was her eighth NAIA title of 2023, including five in indoor track and two in outdoor track.

Ellyse Tingelstad of College of Idaho ran in tandem with Wiley for much of the course and led through 4K in 14:03.9. Then Wiley distanced herself.

Tingelstad finished second in 21:16.1 as one of three runners in the top five from champion College of Idaho. Sage Martin was third in 21:39.4, Taylor’s Mollie Gamble fourth in 21:40.2 and Abby Shirts fifth in 21:41.9.

Wiley finished second in this meet as a freshman. She played fall soccer in high school and never finished higher than sixth at Indiana’s cross country state meet.

“I really didn’t know what to expect since I haven’t run a 6K yet,” Wiley said in an interview posted by the NAIA. “I know this is a tough course. So I just wanted to get a feel for what everyone else is doing, but also know what I’m capable of. And kind of just judge the field as the race went on.

“I’ve made my mistakes in cross country in the past. I wanted to show that I learned from those and am a better racer now.”

Wiley, after not racing all fall, was eligible for nationals because Huntington qualified as a team and she is on the roster. In summer track, she set a collegiate record of 3:59.17 at 1,500 meters, became second-fastest collegian ever at 800 meters, finished fifth in the USA Championships at 1,500 and seventh in the mile at the World Road Running Championships.

Wiley is the Foresters’ third NAIA champion in five years. The two others, Hannah Stoffel and Emma Wilson, are suing the university and former coaches Nick Johnson and Lauren Johnson amid allegations of sexual abuse and doping.

Wiley said coach Josh Neideck once thought Huntington had a chance to win a national team title.

“Unfortunately, injuries got in the way,” Wiley said. “And so I want to make sure we had the best showing possible. So I was running for them.”

In winning its first national title, top-ranked College of Idaho scored 68 points, beating the 92 by No. 5 The Master’s (Calif.). No. 3 Saint Mary (Kan.) was third with 133, No. 4 Milligan (Tenn.) fourth with 145, No. 4 Taylor fifth with 184 and No. 12 Huntington sixth with 201.

College of Idaho had finished second on four occasions since 2012.

“It’s a big, big moment, and especially for these girls,” coach Dominic Bolin said. “They’ve worked so hard and been consistent in everything they do.”

Bolin said Kahea Figueira, who finished seventh, ran her best race ever. And Charlie Duff, in 64th place (51 team points), was “absolutely phenomenal” as Idaho’s No. 5 runner, the coach said.

Milligan wins a close one

In the closest team race in 37 years, the No. 2 Milligan men beat No. 4 Saint Mary 93-98. In the closing kilometer, the Spires closed the gap from 15 points to five.

Milligan finished first in 2021, also at Vancouver, and second last year. It was the closest scoring since Adams State (Colo.) and Western Colorado tied at 78 in 1986.

Milligan placed 5-6-8-28-46 to 2-17-23-24-32 for Saint Mary. Milligan coach Chris Layne said his runners have been resilient.

“This is a group you don’t worry about,” Layne said. “They’re light in their approach. They have fun. They have a great balance to how they operate.”

No. 8 Cumberlands (Ky.) was third with 114 and No. 3 The Master’s fourth with 156. No. 1-ranked Indiana Wesleyan was 21st at 2K before climbing to fifth at 206.

Jackson Wilson became the first individual champion from Rocky Mountain (Mont.), finishing the 8-kilometer course in 24:31.8. Joseph Skoog of Bethel (Tenn.) was second in 24:40,9 and early leader Emad Bashir-Mohammed third in 24:49.91.

Bashir-Mohammed led by eight seconds through 3K and retained the lead at 7K before he was overtaken by Skoog and then Wilson. Wilson ran the closing kilometer in 2:55.3.

“I knew if I could just stay in it until the last 1K, I could take it,” said Wilson, whose modest track PBs are 3:55.30 at 1,500 and 4:19.83 in the mile.

Robert Swoboda of Corban (Ore.) was fourth in 24:50.3 and Serhil Shevchenko of Cumberlands fifth in 24:55.7. Milligan’s Bryn Woodall, Aaron Jones and Will Stockley were sixth, seventh and ninth.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.