MOREHEAD, Ky. — Morehead State will begin its indoor track and field campaign on Friday at the Marshall Opener. It will be the third time in four years the squad will compete at the meet, which will be held Friday at the Jeff Small Track in the Chris Cline Indoor Athletics Complex in Huntington, W.Va. MSU and host Marshall will be the lone teams participating in the women's-only competition, which will begin with the field events at 7:30 p.m. and the track races at 8:20 p.m. It will also serve as the opening meet for the Thundering Herd.
Just like it did last winter, the Eagles' December start is a rare occurrence. It is just the third time in 14 years the team has competed before January. It is also the fifth time in six seasons MSU will begin with a meet at Marshall and it is the Eagles' 16th time traveling to an indoor event hosted by the Thundering Herd during that span. Morehead State is slated to return to the Jeff Small Track twice more this winter: Jan. 14 for the Marshall Classic and Feb. 10-11 for the Marshall Invitational.
According to coach Clay Dixon, the competition will serve as a tune-up for the rest of the indoor season.
"It should be a good dual meet to end the semester," he said. "We will be able to see where the sprinters are at in their training. It also gives everyone a chance to run an event they don't normally do. For example, Lucy (Singleton) in the 200 meters and some of the women racing the 600m or 1,000m."
Fourteen MSU runners will compete in five events that will range from 60 meters to 1,000 meters.
Natalia Davis will be the lone Eagle running the 60-meter dash, while
Keana Meriwether and
Tayla Lee will join Davis and Singleton in the 200-meter dash.
Riliegh Owens is slated to compete in the 600-meter run, with
Christiana Lytle and
Jennifer Ramirez on tap to run in either the 600m or the 300-meter dash.
Christiana Brittian,
Cloe Copas,
Natalie Curry,
Hope Harris,
Kaylyn Holman Laikin Tarlton and
Abby Taylor are all entered in the 1,000-meter run.
Last December, the Eagles scored 48 points to Marshall's 168 in the two-team meet.
Sierra Kelley placed second in the 300-meter dash in 42.61, while Singleton also finished as the runner-up in the 400-meter dash in 1:02.43. In addition, Copas was third in the 400m (1:04.94) and Tarlton was third in the 600m (1:44.35) to highlight the Eagle performers.
MSU did not run at the meet in 2020, but was third in the three-team event in 2019.
The Eagles' first event, the 60m, will begin at 8:30 p.m. The 400m will follow at 8:40 p.m., with the 600m at 8:50 p.m., the 300m at 9 p.m. and the 200m at 9:10 p.m.
Live results can be obtained at https://results.kvtfoa.net/20221209MU/.
This is MSU's lone meet before the semester break. The team will next run at the Marshall Classic on Saturday, Jan. 14.
