Morehead, Ky. – Bolstered by 10 top-10 finishes, including seven in the top five, the Morehead State women's and men's track and field programs placed 11th and 12th, respectively at the Margaret Simmons Invitational Friday and Saturday on the Marshall Gage Track at Roy Stewart Stadium and Hamilton Field in Murray, Ky.

It was the teams' first meet at Murray State in more than 10 years. The southwestern Kentucky school will host the Ohio Valley Conference championship later this spring.

As impressive as were both the individual and team performances, Morehead State coach Clay Dixon has his eyes on the big prize.

"I knew it wasn't going to be the best meet, but a middle-of-the-season meet with our next meet two weeks off and time to recoup," he said. "Tuesday, we had a really hard workout, plus a tough meet last week and therapy Friday and Saturday, so we were training through this meet. If we have a 'pr' that's great, but we just want to build for what's coming in May, not in March," he said.

Yet the meet was still important and it was an opportunity to see many of the other OVC squads, who were also racing there this weekend.

"The conference meet will be there, so it's good to have a mental picture of (the track), kind of like a rehearsal," Dixon added.

Dixon likes to compare teams' results from week to week to gauge the progress of his programs and there were multiple impressive performances that pleased him.

The Eagle women scored 17 points to place ahead of Tennessee-Martin (12th with 16 points), Tennessee Tech (13th with 12 points) and Evansville (20th with 2.5 points). Host Murray State won the team title with 174 points, with Southern Illinois in second at 112, followed by Austin Peay in third at 86, Marian (Ind.) in fourth at 85.5 and Jacksonville State in fifth at 60. Other notable finishes included SIU-Edwardsville in seventh with 31 points, Kentucky Wesleyan in eighth at 30, Lindsey Wilson in ninth at 26 and Southern Indiana in 10th at 24.

On the men's side, Marian captured the crown with 135 points, followed by SIUE in second at 78, Southern Illinois in third at 77, and Tennessee-Martin and Central Methodist tied for fourth at 65. Evansville was sixth with 44 points. Southern Indiana was seventh with 40.5 points, Lindsey Wilson was 10th with 30 points and Kentucky Wesleyan was 11th with 27 points.

The MSU men scored 24 points and beat Murray State (tied for 14th with 13 points), and both Austin Peay and Jacksonville State which tied for 20th with four points.

Twenty-four teams had entries in events for each gender.

On both days, the weather was bitterly cold and on Saturday, the wind was strong and often blowing into the faces of runners.

"It was windy, but you can't control the weather. For the most part, we did all of our (women's) scoring in three events: last night in the 4x800m (relay), and today in the 800m and 5K; and then for the guys in just four events: the 4x8, 800m, 1500m and 5K," Dixon said. "The weather was terrible, so I knew the times wouldn't be great, but best way to look at it is we are competing against conference folks (in events) with 90 people entered, so placing (where we did) is pretty good."

The meet started well for the Blue and Gold. The women were 10th and the men tied for 14th after just having entries in two events on the first day. Both Eagle 4x800-meter relays were the standouts on Friday night.

The women's team of freshman Lucy Singleton, sophomore Laikin Tarlton, sophomore Mary Alice Thornburg and sophomore Riliegh Owens fell short of breaking the nine-year-old school record of 9:34.51 it was targeting, but did better last weekend's time of 9:56.23 by recording a 9:45.49 to place second.

"They gave it a good shot," Dixon said. "It was the second-fastest time in school history by my research. The last two girls kind of fell apart. They were in no man's land (with no one around to push them) and it was 40 degrees that night. I was happy with them. I was like 'if you can (break the record), let's get it, but if not oh well.'"

Sophomore Liam Dale, freshman Austin Montgomery, freshman Sam Lucas and freshman Alex Murray ran the men's 4x800m relay and finished fifth in 8:28.37.

"(Dale) ran his fastest 800m ever, then later on ran a 1500m and won his heat by like 50 meters," Dixon said. "Since no one was going fast (in the 1500m), he thought he'd go for it and he just took off. It was crazy. Every time, he put his head down to get through the wind and he just kept going. He told me after that he thought 'Everyone was right behind me so I kept going' and he ended up winning by huge margin."

Individually, sophomore Michael Dunagan had the best day. He was third in the 800-meter run in 1:58.25 and eighth in the 1,500-meter run in 4:05.12.

"Michael had a good double," Dixon said. "He saw the first heat (of the 1,500m) go out jogging, so he said he was going to go all out (in his race). So, he literally took the lead and made it as fast as he could by running 63 seconds in the first quarter (mile). He led for few laps, but then a few passed him, but he still held off a few. It was a gutsy race."

Dunagan really excelled in the half mile, a race that also included sophomore Toby Cook. He was fourth in 1:58.67 and won his heat.

"Mike had a really good spot and after running the 1,500 he was so tired, so he wasn't expecting a 'pr', which took the pressure off," Dixon said. "I thought for a minute he had a shot at winning it, but two guys kicked it into gear late and passed him.

"(It was the) same with Toby. He was there in third and had another gear with about 250 (meters) left and then kicked it up another gear in the last 50 (meters)," Dixon continued.

The men's 1,500m was packed with Eagle runners. Besides Dunagan, the squad also had 10 others entered.

Sophomore Jarrett Forrest was the top finisher among that group, placing 13th in 4:09.69. Dale followed in 20th in 4:14.54, with sophomore Wes Grogan 26th in 4:17.13, sophomore Jacob Vogelpohl 35th in 4:20.98, sophomore Peyton Fairchild 37th in 4:21.54, sophomore Justin Bland 38th in 4:23.06, Lucas 48th in 4:28.15, Montgomery 51st in 4:31.56, freshman Ethan Vance 58th in 4:36.09 and Murray 59th in 4:37.39 to round out MSU's representatives.

All three of MSU's 5,000-meter runners placed in the top 12. Sophomore Kyle Embry was second in 15:31.23, sophomore Kyler Stewart was ninth in 16:13.75 and sophomore Justin Chavez was 12th in 16:30.16.

"It was Kyle's first race since January. He held back a little (at the start) and went for it at the mile (mark). He was second most of the race and then with two laps to go he got passed, and then in the last lap he (dug in). He's just a racer and he passed a few guys and took second," Dixon said. "He beat a guy who ran 14:50 a few weeks ago.

"Kyler had a little bounce back (run), especially in the second half of the race," Dixon added. "Last week was pretty rough (for him). He did pretty good and competed with some of the bigger guys."

Of all of the sprinters, Dixon singled out the efforts of freshman Keana Meriwether, who was 20th in the 400-meter dash in 1:04.39 and 46th in the 200-meter dash in 28.29. With the wind and cold temperatures, the conditions were not favorable for the sprinters.

"Keana Meriwether really had the best race among the 400m runners. The way she ran, considering the wind, (was impressive). It was her fastest time this year, if not she at least tied it," Dixon said. "I think she had a pretty good 200m the night before, so she's progressing nicely."

Junior Sierra Kelley led the pack in the 400m, placing 19th in 1:02.79. Junior Tayla Lee was 33rd in the event in 1:09.75.

The 200m race was held on Friday night. Kelley was 37th in 27.75, junior Dallas Jones followed in 44th in 28.19, with freshman Grace Lopez 47th in 28.60, Lee 48th in 28.85 and sophomore JD Camacho 53rd in 29.60. Lopez also finished 31st in the 100-meter dash in 13.44.

In the 5,000-meter run, sophomore Isabella Copher was fifth in 19:32.66, with freshman Cloe Copas eighth in 20:21.43.

"That was just a mental battle," Dixon said. "It was not a race with 30 people where you could just tuck in behind someone and draft off of them. You had one person, then another 50 meters back and then two more a bit behind them. So, there was no one to run with, block the wind, and keep the pace and gauge the race."

Singleton topped the Eagles in the 800-meter run. She was fifth in 2:20.81. Two of her relay teammates also competed in that event with Thornburg in 22nd in 2:31.71 and Owens in 24th in 2:32.18.

"She was up there competing and in there with the conference folks," Dixon said. "She's pretty exhausted after this week, but it was a good workout for her."

Tarlton was the Eagles' top finisher in the 1,500m, placing 15th in 5:02.80. Sophomore Hannah Hostetler followed in 30th in 5:15.45, with freshman Megan Bush right behind in 31st in 5:16.08.

MSU will take a week off and then return for the Jim Vargo Invitational in Louisville on April 8-9.