MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State coach Clay Dixon will take a handful of athletes to compete in the track and field team's final tune up for the Ohio Valley Conference championship when the group travels to compete in Wednesday's Liberty Twilight Qualifier. The meet will take place at Liberty's Matthes-Hopkins Track Complex in Lynchburg, Va. The Flames also will honor their seniors that day.

It will be the Eagles' first mid-week meet of the outdoor season.

"Liberty has good competition. We'd gone in 2018 and had good times there. It's a good near end-of-season meet," Dixon said. "The (runners) should be in their best shape now or (will be by) next week. We just want to go there and race. … We're literally going there just for fast times.

"It's a fast track and we've had success there before," he added. "It'll be cooler and there will be calmer winds running at night."

Despite the name, the competition will begin at 11:30 a.m. However, MSU's first event will take place at 5:45 p.m.

A total of 23 teams are scheduled to participate. Charlotte, Hampton, High Point, James Madison, North Carolina, North Carolina State, UNC Greensboro and Virginia Tech are among the schools which will make up the field.

Dixon has entered freshman Lucy Singleton; and sophomores Toby Cook, Michael Dunagan and Wes Grogan in the 800-meter run; sophomore Laikin Tarlton in the 1,500-meter run; and sophomores Kyle Embry, Jarrett Forrest and Jacob Vogelpohl in the 5,000-meter run.

"I want to keep them sharp and not have two weeks between one meet and the next. It should be good conditions," Dixon said. "I'm just going for fast times. I know we're not going to win. We have had very few opportunities to run in great conditions."

Tarlton will start off the day for the Eagles.

"Laikin just wants to go out and compete," Dixon said. "The 1,500 is the same as the 800, it's not as taxing. People could race twice a week and still be okay."

Singleton, Cook, Dunagan and Grogan's event will start at 6:30 p.m.

"We may scratch Lucy and just save her for the OVCs," Dixon said. "The 800m is not over-taxing on the body and is a good workout for them. … They've been piecing things together. Wes just 'pr'ed and cut off six seconds in the past week. Michael is going to try some different strategies to shave some time off and Toby wants to go out and try to run with Michael. (The 800m) will be his main event at the OVCs."

Vogelpohl is coming off an individual 3,000-meter run title this past weekend at Louisville's Clark Wood Invitational. He, Forrest and Embry will toe the line at 8:15 p.m.

"We're in great shape and we've not had any 5K races in good weather," Dixon said. "All three have been knocking on the door for going under 15 minutes in the 5K and I want to give them that shot. … It'll take them longer to recover, but with five days in between, they should be ok.

"Kyle has looked good in practice lately and has had some good races and Jacob has done the same as well," he continued.

The Eagles previously competed at Liberty Twilight Qualifier in 2018 when three men ran in the 1,500m. Justin Moakler placed second with a 3:46.54 to highlight the performances.

Live results can be found by clicking the link: https://results.blueridgetiming.com/2022/lutwilight/.

"Typically, we have our hard workout on Tuesday, but this race will count for that," Dixon said. "(Going to Liberty) does two things, it counts as a workout and it counts as a race. Typically, we have three to four days of easy running before putting together a really hard effort. We are doing that now. We're reducing the total volume of our workouts. We're having less total work under their legs. It's not the intensity that matters, but the volume and that makes them fresher."

Morehead State will have a week off before traveling to Murray State for the Ohio Valley Conference Championship, which will take place next Wednesday through Friday.