MOREHEAD, Ky. — In 16 trips to the Live in Lou Classic, only once has the Morehead State women's cross country team posted a top-12 finish.
That is until Saturday, when the Eagle ladies placed 12th out of a field of 41 collegiate teams in the Blue Division races at the annual meet at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville.
The MSU men also did well, notching its best finish since 2018 by claiming 20th in the 46-team Blue Division competition.
A year ago, the MSU men were 24th and the women were 37th.
The Eagle ladies scored 398 points and finished ahead of Ohio Valley Conference members Tennessee-Martin (24th), SIU Edwardsville (33rd), Southern Indiana (37th), as well as nearby foes North Alabama (26th), Detroit Mercy (32nd), Wright State (34th), USC Upstate (39th) and Bellarmine (41st).
Chattanooga was the women's team champ with 97 points, followed by Illinois-Chicago and Taylor (Ind.). The latter two squads each accumulated 133 points, but UIC won the tiebreaker.
Chattanooga senior Lesley Green won the 5K race in 17:27.4.
Morehead State's men notched 572 points to edge OVC foe SIUE (573 points). The Eagles also topped Wright State (25th), Jacksonville State (30th), Northern Kentucky (33rd), USC Upstate (34th), Detroit Mercy (37th), the College of Charleston (39th) and Southern Indiana (45th).
The University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) was crowned the team champ with 133 points. Grand Valley State (Mich.) was second with 177 points, followed by Montreat (N.C.) in third with 221 points.
Enrique Salazar of Manchester (Ind.) brought home the individual 8K title in 24:21.2.
"I thought today went very well. We had some quality races on both sides and beat some good teams," MSU head coach
Clay Dixon said. "It was nice to see some conference foes to see how we are stacking up against them. (The) OVC (championship) will be close by the looks of it."
A different individual has led MSU in each race this year. This time it was junior
Lucy Singleton topping the women and senor
Kyler Stewart pacing the men.
Singleton finished 37th in 18:44.3 in the 5K race. It was her second-fastest time at that distance and the eighth time in her career she was the top Eagle. Last year, she also was the first MSU female across the line, placing 65th in 18:51.5.
Singleton started quickly. At the 2,100-meter mark, she was 34th, while running a 5-minute and 43-second mile pace.
"This race has a lot of runners, so I knew I needed to get out fast at the start. My goal was to get out fast the first mile and try and hang on until the end," she said. "I was able to hang on until the last half mile. The heat got to me and my legs were feeling it, so I focused on maintaining my form and finishing. I was happy with the race; I was right around my 'pr' and am proud of the team. We've been competing well this season and did great today despite the heat."
Senior
Isabella Copher has a history of running well at Sawyer Park. At last year's meet, she was third on the team and 209th overall in 20:03.7. On Saturday, she was second on the squad, 54th overall and covered the course in 19:00.2. Like Singleton, it was the second-fastest 5K of her career.
Despite being a slower course than the last competition site, and with many more competitors, two women set season bests. Sophomore
Christiana Brittian dropped nearly 43 seconds off her race at the Thundering Herd Invitational two weeks ago, while junior
Jennifer Ramirez also sliced almost 23 seconds off her time from the previous meet.
The Eagle women had four top-100 finishers in the 385-runner competition, compared to one last year and three two seasons ago. Freshman
Taylor Allen was 64th overall in 19:08.9, while senior
Laikin Tarlton was 70th in 19.13.0. Tarlton was 201st in 19:59.5 at the meet last fall.
Brittian was fifth on the team and 193rd overall in 20:12.6, with junior
Megan Bush in 200th in 20:16.9, sophomore
Abby Taylor in 257th in 20:47.0, junior
Lilly Gray in 267th in 20:57.0, Ramirez in 273rd in 21:01.1, junior
Cloe Copas in 316th in 21:30.0, sophomore
Casey Skaggs in 348th in 22:07.1, sophomore
Kaylyn Holman in 256th in 22:16.1, freshman
Emily Spradlin in 377th in 23:53.6, sophomore
Hope Harris in 382nd in 25:07.6 and sophomore
Natalie Curry in 383rd in 25:41.0.
In addition to Singleton and Copher, Tarlton, Brittian, Bush and Ramirez also ran faster than last year. Gray did not compete at the 2022 meet, but did in 2021 and, like the aforementioned group, bested her time from that race.
For the first time in his career, Stewart was MSU's top male runner. He covered the 8K course in 26:08.3, his fastest mark of the season and his second best as an Eagle. He finished 96th in the 434-person race. It was a massive jump in placing and a slight improvement in time from last year's competition, when he was 166th in 26:10.9.
"My race went well overall. Most of our team has raced this course almost every year since we started competing, so we knew what it would be like going in. This race is so crowded that if you don't get ahead early, you will have to fight for a good place later," Stewart said. "I avoided that by going out with the front pack. That set me up to cruise (at) the front and I only had to worry about maintaining my pace. This really helped me stay mentally strong, while being ahead of where I would be normally."
After starting with a pace at just over five minutes per mile, Stewart made a late push. At the 2.1K mark, he was 125th. He was virtually in the same spot by the time he hit the 3.9K point (126th at a 5:10 pace). But in the second half of the race, he surged forward 30 spots.
"At about a mile and a half from the end, people usually start to fade if they can't hold (the pace). So, I used that today to catch a lot of people at the end of the race," he continued. "With the help of my teammates racing close to me I was able to work with them and finish. …"
Three Eagles were right behind Stewart. Senior
Peyton Fairchild was 104th in 26:09.8, while senior
Jarrett Forrest was 106th in 26:11.7 and senior
Jacob Vogelpohl was 108th in 26:12.6. it was a big improvement for Fairchild and Forrest over last year's performance when Fairchild was 254th in 26:51.8 and Forrest was 285th in 27:11.5. Vogelpohl also moved up 51 spots from the 2022 race.
Senior
Wes Grogan was the fifth Eagle across the line in 169th and 26:40.00, followed by senior
Kyle Embry in 180th in 26:43.1, senior
Justin Bland in 233rd in 27:06.7, freshman
Armando Montes in 238th in 27:12.4, senior
Justin Chavez in 280th in 27:34.2, senior
Toby Cook in 291st in 27:37.3, junior
Ethan Vance in 309th in 27:46.5, freshman
Keghan Thompson in 348th in 28:17.1, freshman
Noah Bunting in 354th in 28:20.0, senior
Alex Murray in 392nd in 29:10.8, freshman
Garrett West in 401st in 29:43.9 and freshman
Aidan Whitsell in 409th in 30:08.0.
Only Cook posted a faster time than in the team's last race at the Thundering Herd Invitational. He dropped nearly 18 seconds off that performance. It was the second-best 8K in his career.
Cook, Vance, Chavez and Murray all bettered their times from last year's event. Grogan, who did not run at the 2022 meet, competed there in 2021 and dropped more than a minute and 36 seconds off his time in that race.
"(It was) great to see Kyler step up and lead the team today. (The) same with Lucy," Dixon said. "It really just depends on who has a good day (as to who) will lead it. Our team has depth and can pick up (when) someone may drop back."
MSU will take two weeks off before returning to the course on Friday, Oct. 13 at the Angel Mounds Invitational in Evansville, Ind. The first race is scheduled to start at 9 a.m.
