MOREHEAD, Ky. — Morehead State will make its first trip to Michigan under head coach
Clay Dixon to compete in Friday's Spartan Invitational hosted by Michigan State University at the Forest Akers East Golf Course in East Lansing. It will be the 41st edition of the race, but the first time the Eagles will be participating.
The opening gun for the 18-team meet will go off at 11 a.m. for the women's 6K race and then at 11:40 a.m. for the men's 8K event.
"I'm hoping to finish in the top half of this meet, maybe even better, like top five," Dixon said. "However, we have never been to this meet and we do not know fully what kind of competition will be there or how the course looks. So, there are lots of variables."
Both the men and the women races will feature essentially running two laps of the course. The field will include several squads which competed in last year's national championships. The two-time defending Division III women's national champs, Johns Hopkins, along with other Division III powerhouses: SUNY Geneseo (women third and men eighth at last year's meet); North Central, Ill. (men 15th); Case Western Reserve (men 19th and women 25th) and John Carroll (men fourth and women 23rd); as well as the Johns Hopkins' men (24th) are all entered. Division II standouts Grand Valley State (men's national champions and women's second-place teams last fall) and Saginaw Valley State (women 14th) will also toe the line, as will host Michigan State, whose women's squad was 16th and men 30th at the 2021 Division I nationals.
Additionally, John Carroll's Alex Phillip was the men's individual Division III national champion, while Grand Valley State's Klaudia O'Malley and Tanner Chada were the Division II men's and women's runners-up, respectively. All three are on their school's 2022 preseason roster.
"The course is on the Forest Akers Golf Course. I do not know if it is hilly, but it might be a little warmer than we want by the time the races start (mid to high 70s)," Dixon said. "There is a wide range of teams from Michigan State, Cincinnati and NKU (Northern Kentucky), to D(ivision) II and D(ivision) III powerhouses like Grand Valley State and Johns Hopkins. I think this is where the DIII national cross country meet is this year, so a few more good DIII teams are probably trying to preview the course."
Dixon has entered 17 men and 13 women, including junior
Kyle Embry, who is coming off a second-place finish at the team's season-opening eKU Tri-Meet on September 2 – a result that earned him Ohio Valley Conference Runner of the Week honors. Among the Lady Eagles, sophomore
Lucy Singleton was MSU's top female finisher at that competition, placing 11th.
"Practices have gone well. We have had two quality workouts and a very good long run this past weekend," Dixon said of the training leading up to Friday's races. "The team is looking fit."
Justin Bland,
Gavin Brock,
Justin Chavez,
Toby Cook,
Peyton Fairchild,
Jarrett Forrest,
Micah Gray,
Josh Grogan,
Wes Grogan,
Sam Lucas,
Austin Montgomery,
Alex Murray,
Kyler Stewart,
Ethan Vance,
Jacob Vogelpohl and
Garrett Watts will join Embry among the Eagle men's entries. It will be the first race for Watts in more than a year.
Christiana Brittian,
Megan Bush,
Isabella Copher,
Natalie Curry,
Hope Harris,
Kaylyn Holman,
Christiana Lytle,
Riliegh Owens,
Jennifer Ramirez,
Casey Skaggs,
Laikin Tarlton and
Abby Taylor, along with Singleton, are the MSU women scheduled to compete.
Several team members will not be making the trip.
"A handful of people are out for just strange reasons, because we do not want to risk further injury or just because they are not ready to race yet," Dixon said. "We had a few Covid (issues) and some medical problems last week, but luckily nothing major or season-ending, just strange things that just happen throughout the year."
For more information, check out the website:
https://www.playmakers.com/featured-races/spartan/. Live results can also be found at the link:
https://my.raceresult.com/219154/
After returning from Michigan, Morehead State will be off another two weeks before returning for the Greater Louisville Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 1.
