MOREHEAD, Ky. — For the second time this season, Morehead State junior
Kyle Embry was the top performer as the Eagle men's cross country team placed 14th at Friday morning's Spartan Invitational. Against a talented field that included Division II and III national powerhouses, as well as host Michigan State, Embry covered the 8K route on the Forest Akers East Golf Course in East Lansing, Mich., in 25:42.10 to claim 44
th. It was a drop of more than 28 seconds off his previous time at that distance (the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference championship).
Sophomore
Lucy Singleton paced the MSU women in her 6K race by finishing in 92nd in 23:47.12. The Eagle ladies finished 16th in the team standings.
"Kyle had a big breakout race going under 26 (minutes) for the first time … (and) Lucy toughed it out today," Morehead State coach
Clay Dixon said. "It was hot and (there was) some good competition. We wanted to be conservative (running on) that first half (of the course) with the heat."
Several other members of the Blue and Gold had outstanding individual performances, including sophomores
Garrett Watts and
Megan Bush. Competing for the first time in over a year, Watts was the second Eagle across the line, placing 80th in 26:28.92; while Bush notched her highest team finish (third) after claiming 137th in 24:51.54. Sophomore
Laikin Tarlton covered the course in 24:42.66 and captured 130th, just ahead of Bush.
Among the men, sixth-year student
Josh Grogan and sophomore
Alex Murray both had strong individual performances. Grogan was the sixth Eagle finisher in 154th in 27:48.84, while Murray cut more than one minute and 45 seconds off his last 8K race, the 2021 Greater Louisville Classic, to place 235th in 30:57.40.
Freshman
Jennifer Ramirez also stood out. She posted her top individual result on the squad (seventh) and placed 175th overall in 25:58.95.
Sophomores
Kyler Stewart and
Peyton Fairchild were third and fourth on the men's team, crossing the line back-to-back in 129th and 130th in 27:21.41 and 27:24.18, respectively. Classmate
Jacob Vogelpohl was the fifth Eagle, coming in 136th in 27:30.89.
"Garrett had his first race in over a year and we are just glad to get his race legs going," Dixon said. "Kyler and Peyton came out strong on the second half, as well as (did) Jacob."
Sophomore
Justin Bland was 161st in 27:52.93, sophomore
Toby Cook was 192nd in 28:43.21, sophomore
Ethan Vance was 201st in 29:12.19, freshman
Gavin Brock was 206th in 29:17.71, junior
Justin Chavez was 225th in 30:05.67 and sophomore
Austin Montgomery was 240th in 31:20.50 to round out the Eagles who crossed the line. Three team members did not finish the race. Junior
Jarrett Forrest dropped out after 3.9 miles, while sophomore
Sam Lucas and redshirt sophomore
Micah Gray each withdrew between two and 2.9 miles.
Freshmen
Christiana Brittian and
Abby Taylor, were the final two scoring women's team members, placing 141st in 25:02.64 and 155th in 25:23.94, respectively.
Sophomore
Isabella Copher (159th in 25:29.93), junior
Riliegh Owens (177th in 26:03.29), freshman
Kaylyn Holman (183rd in 26:20.18), freshman
Casey Skaggs (189th in 26:38.19), freshman
Hope Harris (206th in 28:40.50) and freshman
Natalie Curry (213th in 30:51.85) rounded out the Eagle women's finishers. Redshirt freshman
Christiana Lytle was a "DNF" after dropping out between the first and second miles.
"Laikin is recovering from illness, but Megan really progressed well today. Christiana Britian and Abby (Taylor) both are progressing well," Dixon said. "Isabella was not feeling too well today, but Jennifer is looking to be a good addition to the team (coming over) from soccer this past season."
Division II powerhouse Grand Valley State won the 17-team men's competition with 45 points.
Cincinnati was second with 89 points, followed by host Michigan State in third with 115 points, Kent State in fourth with 162 points, North Central (Ill.) in fifth with 163 points, Johns Hopkins in sixth with 166 points and John Carroll in seventh with 168 points. Among the remaining Division I schools, Valparaiso was 11th with 263 points, Morehead State was 14th with 369 points and Northern Kentucky was 15th with 383 points.
Host Michigan State topped the table in the 18-team women's field. The Spartans "A" squad tallied 19 points. Grand Valley State was second with 71 points, followed by SUNY Geneseo in third with 127 points, Johns Hopkins in fourth with 142 points, Cincinnati in fifth with 156 points, Michigan State's "B" team in sixth with 187 points and Saginaw Valley State in seventh with 236 points. The Eagles were 16th with 451 points, beating out 18th-place Valparaiso with 481 points, while falling to eighth-place Western Michigan (262 points), ninth-place Kent State (268 points), 13th-place Northern Kentucky (349 points) and 15th-place Ball State (378 points).
"(The men) beat NKU, so we picked up right where we left off last year (when they finished ahead of the Norse at the regionals). (There's) lots of work to do the next few weeks (and we're) hoping for good weather and a fast course at (our upcoming meet in) Louisville," Dixon said. "The competition was way more competitive than in years past. You saw how many ranked teams were there. Just basing our results on last year's competition, we would have placed roughly ninth for men and 13th for women."
Grand Valley State's Tanner Chada was the individual men's winner in 24:03.70. The top three women were all from Michigan State. Kaitlyn Hynes posted the lowest time with a 21:07.42.
Morehead State returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 1 at the Greater Louisville Invitational.
