MOREHEAD, Ky. – Sophomore
Lucy Singleton won the third indoor track title of her career and the Eagles placed 12th in Friday's Bellarmine Open at the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center in Louisville.
"I know the team had a hard week so I really wanted to go into today with minimal expectations," MSU coach
Clay Dixon said. "We had a tough week of running workouts, lifting, our first week of classes and I know there has been a bug (sickness) going around and a few people are getting through that.
"It was an average day. We had a few standout performances and personal bests, but for the most part this meet is in the thick of our training and we are just staying focused on the bigger goals," Dixon added.
Running in the fast heat, Singleton covered the course in 2:18.29, edging Southern Indiana's Mckenna Cavanaugh (2:18.91) and IUPUI's Sophia Taylor (2:19.05) to capture the title. Last season, Singleton was third in the race in 2:17.67. On Friday, she fell 2.33 seconds shy of the meet record of 2:15.96.
"Lucy had a great win in the 800m. She just sat on the leaders for the first half and broke away with about 200 or so to go," coach
Clay Dixon said. "It was really a great strategy for an 800m."
She previously won the 600-meter run with a meet record at the 2022 Marshall Classic and then the 800-meter run later that season at the Marshall Invitational.
Singleton's teammates junior
Mary Alice Thornburg (23rd in 2:39.32), redshirt freshman
Christiana Lytle (24th in 2:44.05) and true freshman
Kaylyn Holman (26th in 2:49.96) finished nearly back-to-back-to-back in the event.
Singleton's 10 points helped push the Eagles into 12th place in the 16-team meet. Last year, the women were 11th out of 14 squads.
Murray State captured the title with 79 points, clipping Tennessee Tech in the final event. The Golden Eagles were second with 77 points, followed by Southern Indiana (63), Northern Kentucky (61), Western Kentucky 49), IUPUI (48), host Bellarmine (43), Tennessee-Martin (40), the Univ. of the Cumberlands (39), Centre (16), Midway (14), Morehead State (10), Indiana Univ. East (6), Evansville (4), and Illinois-Springfield (0) and Vincennes (0).
The Morehead State men made their first appearance of the indoor season and placed 14th. Last winter, the Eagles finished 13th.
Tennessee-Martin took the crown with 100 points. Western Kentucky was second with 89 points, followed by host Bellarmine (75), the Univ. of the Cumberlands (66), Centre (40), Midway (39), Illinois-Springfield (26), Southern Indiana (25), IUPUI (24), Evansville (14), Indiana Univ. East (12), Vincennes (8), Northern Kentucky (6) and Morehead State (1).
Junior
Kyle Embry led the way by claiming eighth in the 3,000-meter run in 8:33.84. It was a huge improvement over last year's race when he also finished eighth, but did so in 9:47.84.
Sophomore teammate
Garrett Watts was not far behind on Friday, taking ninth in 8:41.81. Both Embry and Watts ran in the fast heat.
Sophomore
Jacob Vogelpohl claimed 18th in 8:48.57. Sophomore
Kyler Stewart was 29th in 9:05.56, with classmates
Peyton Fairchild in 45th in 9:21.10,
Alex Murray in 50th in 9:23.85 and
Ethan Vance in 52nd in 9:45.19.
"The 3,000m (runners) were pretty decent," Dixon said. "Kyle, Garrett, Kyler and Alex all 'pr'd."
In the women's 3K, junior
Laikin Tarlton ran in the fast heat and finished 13th overall in 10:47.78. Junior
Isabella Copher was 29th in 11:16.79. Tarlton placed seventh in last year's race, while Copher dropped considerable time off her previous season best of 11:43.23 at last week's Marshall Classic.
Freshman
Abby Taylor continued her outstanding winter after leading the team in the mile by placing 19th in 5:29.79. Sophomores
Cloe Copas (33rd in 5:46.01),
Megan Bush (45th in 5:58.09) and
Jennifer Ramirez (47th in 6:08.48); and freshmen
Casey Skaggs (49th in 6:25.88) and
Natalie Curry (52nd in 6:49.95) rounded out the Eagle women.
"The women saw some improvement as well in the distance events," Dixon said.
Sophomores
Toby Cook (42nd in 4:41.91) and
Sam Lucas (56th in 4:58.09, 56th) represented the MSU men in the mile.
Sophomore
Micah Gray had a respectable performance in the 400-meter dash, placing 20th in 54.54 to round out the Eagle men's entries.
Freshman
Natalia Davis continued her trend of dropping time in the 60-meter dash. For her third consecutive race at the distance, she finished in 24th in 8.22. She also placed 21st in the 200-meter dash with a 'pr' of 27.58. Like Davis, sophomore
Keana Meriwether also had her third straight 'pr'. This one came in the 200m, where she finished 30th in 30.13. She also was 35th in the 60m in 8.85. Junior
Tayla Lee also ran in both races and was 27th in the 200m in 29.55 and 39th in the 60m in 8.95.
"The (runners in the) sprints have had good progress," Dixon said. "I had them all do the 60m and 200m to get as much practice as possible and use today almost as a workout."
Dixon approached the meet as he does all of the team's competitions. The goal is using each race as a stepping stone to achieving the big goal of peaking for the Ohio Valley Conference Championship.
"I'm looking forward to the next few weeks of training as we gear up for a few 5K's at Notre Dame and Marshall a week after that," Dixon said.
Morehead State will take a week off before a handful of athletes will travel to South Bend, Ind., for the Meyo Invitational on Feb. 3-4. After that, the entire team will reconvene for its third trip this season to Huntington, W.Va., to compete in the Marshall Invitational on Feb. 10-11. The OVC Championship concludes the indoor campaign on Feb. 22-23 in Birmingham, Ala.
