Morehead, Ky. – Morehead State will get its first taste of Ohio Valley Conference competition on Friday when the Eagle men's and women's track and field teams travel to Louisville for the Bellarmine Open "Presented by Urban Shipper."

The first event, the men's shot put, is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. The competition will be held at the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center, a community-owned facility, which will feature the first 200-meter banked track on which Morehead State will compete this season.

The 10-team meet will be MSU's first with a full field. It also will give coach Clay Dixon a chance to see how his troops match up against both OVC foes and other area squads.

In addition, it will be the first indoor meet of the season for the Eagle men.

"For the guys, it's a rust-buster, kind of like the women's meet last week. It'll kind of be about seeing how the winter training has gone," Dixon said. "For the girls, it's basically about getting more geared toward what they will be racing at the OVCs (championships). We'll be racing against Murray State and Tennessee-Martin, two conference teams, and six or seven (sic) other teams. It'll be increasing our competition and gearing toward having them compete in their regular events."

In addition to the host school and the OVC opponents, in-state foes Campbellsville, Centre, Union College and Northern Kentucky are also slated to participate. Cumberland University (Tenn.), IUPUI, Illinois-Springfield, Xavier (Ohio), Southern Indiana and Evansville round out the field.

For the women, Dixon is using this meet to measure how the team is progressing.

"Mentally I have a checklist of what I think we can do now. It's like a checklist based on our workouts," he said. "Also, after this weekend we should have a pretty clear picture of how the conference stacks up (event by event). We'll know if (a specific event) is stacked."

Dixon has entered 16 women and 17 men in nine races, and will include the debut of a 4x400-meter relay. It will be the first meet in which virtually both entire rosters are slated to compete.

Grace Lopez will be the Eagles' lone participant in the 60-meter dash. JD Camacho, Tayla Lee and Lopez are scheduled to represent MSU in the 200-meter dash. Dallas Jones, Sierra Kelley and Keana Meriwether will toe the line for the 400-meter dash. The 800-meter run will feature Lilly Gray, Riliegh Owens, Lucy Singleton and Mary Alice Thornburg. Isabella Copher and Christiana Lytle are entered in the mile; with Hannah Hostetler and Laikin Tarlton competing in the 3000-meter run.

Dixon has two quartets set to run in the 4x400m. One foursome will include Kelley, Meriwether, Jones and either Lee or Camacho; with Cloe Copas, Singleton, Gray and Owens making up the other group.

The men are entered in just two events: the mile and the 3000m.

Toby Cook, Michael Dunagan, Wes Grogan, Sam Lucas, Austin Montgomery, Alex Murray and Cruz Ortiz-Ramirez will run the mile. Justin Bland, Liam Dale, Kyle Embry, Jarrett Forrest, Jonah Stanley, Kyler Stewart and Jacob Vogelpohl will race in the 3000m.

Dixon is excited to see both full teams in action, but he singled out a few individuals who have had solid winter practices.

"Michael Dunagan in the men's mile, Kyle Embry in the 3K, and Jacob Vogelpohl and Toby Cook have looked good in workouts and should have some good results as well," Dixon said. "Lucy, I'm excited to see how she goes out there in the 800m. Isabella in the mile, Laikin in the 3K and Sierra in the 400m. Those four I'm looking forward to seeing how they're progressing.

"This is our first meet that'll have pretty solid competition with 10 (sic) teams. We'll be stepping up a notch," he added. "I'm excited to see how we stack up against conference teams and some of the other teams we'll face over there."

The meet will also give Dixon a chance to see other OVC squads live.

"There are two things I'm looking for. I've got a mental checklist. I've seen them in workouts and I want to see how they do in competition (as a comparison)," he concluded. "And I want to see how we do against the conference teams and how everyone is ranked (after the) second full week of competition."

After Friday's meet, the Eagles will take a week off before returning to the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center for the PNC Bank Bellarmine Classic on Friday, Feb. 4.