MOREHEAD, Ky. — The Morehead State cross country teams will have a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championship when they toe the line for the Southeast Regional Friday morning at the E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park course in Louisville. The women's 6K race will begin at 11 a.m., with the start time for the men's 10K event is at noon.
Three hundred and twelve men from 36 schools and 309 women from 40 squads are entered, although only seven can compete per team, in the meet hosted by the University of Louisville.
Head coach
Clay Dixon has targeted some placement goals for his runners.
"It would be cool to see two guys in the top 100 and the guys' team in the top 20," he said. "For the women, I just want to see improvement over where they finished last year. It's a bit unfortunate that a lot of teams we know we can beat are only running one or two runners, so they will not be in the team scores. We've got some good competitive people going up against a strong field. Any of the girls could have a good day and be a difference maker. I can see that it will all come down to our fifth runners (in both the men's and women's races), whoever that will be."
Friday will be the only time this fall the Eagle men will have run a 10K, while the MSU ladies have run a 6K in three of their five races.
Morehead State has been off since both squads placed seventh at the Ohio Valley Conference Championship on Oct. 29 in Cookeville, Tenn.
Garrett Watts topped the men for the second time this fall and claimed sixth overall, while
Lucy Singleton led the club for the fourth time this year and crossed the line in 22nd.
At the 2021 regional, also hosted by Louisville at the E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park, the Eagles finished 30th on the women's side and 25th in the men's race.
Isabella Copher was the top MSU female at that meet. She was 149th in 23:11.90. Four of the team's other entries from last year are also slated to compete on Friday. Singleton was 177th in 23:38.30,
Laikin Tarlton was 190th in 24:04.60,
Cloe Copas was 202nd in 24:32.10 and
Megan Bush was 203th in 24:36.70.
Jarrett Forrest was the first male Eagle across the line last year, but will not run on Friday. Forrest finished 134th in 32:19.90.
Kyle Embry (154th in 32:43.10),
Peyton Fairchild (169th in 33:25.10) and
Justin Bland (177th in 33:39.00) are returning for this season's race.
Riliegh Owens and
Toby Cook are listed as alternates. Owens placed 208th in 25:00.30 and Cook was 193rd in 34:29.10 at the 2021 race.
Dixon has entered Watts, Embry, Bland, Fairchild,
Kyler Stewart,
Jacob Vogelpohl and
Ethan Vance in Friday's men's race; and Singleton, Tarlton, Copher, Bush, Copher, Copas,
Abby Taylor and
Christiana Brittian in the women's event. It will be the first 10K cross country races for Stewart, Vance and Vogelpohl.
Although Watts, Embry, Singleton and Tarlton have been the teams' standout performers this fall, Dixon has been pleased with what he has seen from several others.
"Jacob was coming off a good track season (in the spring of 2022) and has consistently been in our No. 3 or 4 spot. Kyler and Ethan have had solid seasons. Kyler has been a No. 3 or 4 guy and has shared it with Jacob. He's really made that jump (into the top four). Ethan has slowly progressed since last year and will get his first taste of a 10K," Dixon said.
"Megan has had a really good season and progressed throughout. She went under 24 (minutes) for a 6K at the OVCs. Abby and Christiana have done well as freshmen finishing in our No. 4, 5 and 6 spots," he added. "One thing that is true, this is our best seven (women's) runners. There is no one missing. There have been some (times) here and there when they've not finished in the top seven, but they have (consistently) been the top group."
There are nine regional meets across the country with the top two teams and four individuals from each qualifying for the national championship, which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 19 in Stillwater, Okla. A total of 13 at-large teams and two individuals also receive berths.
Wake Forest is the region's top-ranked men's team, while North Carolina State paces the women. Both squads also are the defending champions. Campbell's Athanas Kioko (28:58.1) and N.C. State's Kelsey Chmiel (19:58.4) were the top individual finishers in those races. Chmiel is entered in Friday's meet. Kioko was a senior last year and is not in the 2022 field. Runner-up Aaron Las Heras of Wake Forest is scheduled to compete.
Since 2012, MSU's best finishes have been by Farah Abdulkarim (18th in 2016 men's race) and Sierra Poppell (27th in 2018 women's race). In the team standings, the men were 10th in 2017 and the women were 15th in 2018.
Morehead State has run in multiple meets at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park. Earlier this year at the Live in Lou Classic, Watts and Embry crossed the line back-to-back in the 8K men's event in 23rd (24:49.7) and 24th (24:50.3), respectively, while Singleton was 65th in 18:51.5 in the 5K women's race.
"I think the course is very familiar and there will be no surprises, so everybody knows what to expect going in. (However,) the weather could be a factor," Dixon said.
The team has been training for this meet and knowing the course and running the extra distance could be an asset.
"I'm hoping that works in our favor. We've been doing six to seven miles worth of volume and I hope that our strength prevails," Dixon said. "A lot can happen between conference (meets) and regionals. Teams fade because they're tired. But (in running a 10K) our guys have been healthy and training solid, and I hope that in the last 2K we can make up a lot of ground on people.
"In theory, we've tapered to hold (on for the longer race), but it's also cross country and it's different every day, every year, every course," he added.
For live results from the meet, clink on the following link:
https://www.flashresults.com/2023_Meets/xc/NCAASE/. Additional meet information can also be found at:
https://gocards.com/sports/2022/10/26/2022-cross-country-ncaa-regional.aspx.
