Morehead, Ky. – Morehead State's track and field teams begin the final leg of their 2021-22 campaign with the initial meet of the outdoor season on Friday at Miami University's Blizzard Buster. The one-day event will start at 9 a.m. with the women's hammer and the men's javelin at the George L. Rider Track in Oxford, Ohio.

It will be the first competition for MSU's women since the Ohio Valley Conference Championship on Feb. 23, while the men have been off since last running in the Marshall Invitational on Feb. 11-12.

"It is a good competition from top to bottom," said MSU coach Clay Dixon of the Blizzard Buster. "We are looking to see where we are from (the) indoor (season) on the women's team, and for the guys, I want to see how they are since last running about six weeks ago."

Nineteen teams, as well as a handful of club and unattached individuals, are expected to compete over the 22 events of the non-scored competition, with the Eagles entering 31 athletes in 36 races. Morehead State's first contest will be the men's 5,000-meter run at 10:30 a.m. A quartet of sophomores: Kyler Stewart, Jarrett Forrest, Jacob Vogelpohl and Peyton Fairchild will represent the Eagles in that contest.

The MSU men will also field entries in the 3,000-meter run (sophomores Justin Chavez, Justin Bland, Kyle Embry and Liam Dale; and freshmen Alex Murray and Ethan Vance), the 1,500-meter run (sophomores Toby Cook and Wes Grogan, and freshman Jonah Stanley) and the 800-meter run (sophomore Michael Dunagan, and freshmen Austin Montgomery and Sam Lucas).

The Eagle women will run distances ranging from 100 to 5,000 meters. In the longest race, freshman Megan Bush will be the only entry. Sophomores Isabella Copher and Hannah Hostetler, and freshman Cloe Copas will represent the team in the 3,000-meter run. Four individuals are entered in the 1,500-meter run: sophomores Laikin Tarlton, Riliegh Owens and Mary Alice Thornburg; and freshman Lucy Singleton. Freshman Christiana Lytle is the lone Eagle in the 800-meter run.

"This meet some people will run in their main event, but some may be running in an event they'll never run again," said Dixon. "With a meet this early in the season, I ask them, 'Hey what do you want to run,' then I give my input and we go from there. If they have a good performance, I'm happy, but if not, we've got two months to get better."

Four women are doing a double, with Sierra Kelley, Dallas Jones, Tayla Lee and Grace Lopez all competing in two events. In addition to the individual entries, the Eagle women will be represented in the 4x800-meter relay. That foursome is expected to include Tarlton, Singleton, Thornburg and Owens in a yet-to-be-determined order.

"We're going for the women's 4x8 school record (of 9:34.51)," said Dixon.

Sophomore JD Camacho and freshman Keana Meriwether will compete in the 400-meter dash. Kelley and Jones will join Camacho and Meriwether in the 400m, as well as run the 200-meter dash. Lee and Lopez are also entered in the 200m and will run the 100-meter dash.

Morehead State participated in the Blizzard Buster last year. Among the men racing on Friday, Stewart placed ninth and Forrest 12th in the 3,000m; Dale was 12th and Chavez 13th in the 800m; and Embry was 15th and Dunagan 16th in the 1,500m. Embry, Dunagan, Stewart and Cook also finished fourth in the 4x800m relay.

Camacho (15th), Jones (16th) and Lee (20th) paced the Eagle women in last March's Blizzard Buster 400m race, with Jones also running a leg of the sixth-place-finishing 4x400-meter relay squad. Additionally, Tarlton was 14th and Copher 17th in the 3K, while Owens was a member of the 4x800m relay quartet which claimed eighth.

Friday will be the ninth time in the last 13 years in which Morehead State will compete in an outdoor meet at Miami, although the event has had many different names over that period.

As with the season-opening cross country and indoor track meets, Dixon just wants to see his team's level of fitness and where they stand on Friday after having time off since last competing.

"Across the board, we've had really good training the last few weeks. It's Spring Break, so I gave them off the last (few) days. Sixteen of them went on a camping trip together, so we'll see how much energy they expended," Dixon said. "(The meet is) a low-key thing. It's March and we're aiming to race fast in May.

"Literally, it's just a good meet that is close and has good competition. It's not a meet we can win and it's not the fastest track in the world, it's just a meet to see where we're at and go from there," he concluded.

Next up for MSU is a trip to Murray, Ky., for the Margaret Simmons Invite. It is a late schedule change from the Winthrop/Adidas Invitational. The MSI will take place on Friday the 25th and Saturday the 26th.