MOREHEAD, Ky. – The distance medley relay placed seventh to score points for Morehead State's women's track and field team on Wednesday's opening day of competition at the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship inside the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.
The quartet of sophomore
Laikin Tarlton, freshman
Christiana Lytle, freshman
Abby Taylor and sophomore
Lucy Singleton covered the 4,000-meter course in 12:46.64 to score two points for the Eagles. It was slightly off last year's time of 12:45.30, which was the second fastest in school history.
Of Wednesday's five races that MSU had entered, which included just two finals, the DMR was the lone event in which the team recorded points. In addition, it was the first time the Eagles scored at the meet since 2019.
The race was redemption for the Blue and Gold, which placed ninth last year after an official miscounted the number of laps and caused the Eagle runner to stop early.
Southeast Missouri edged Southern Indiana in the race to win the title. The Redhawks were clocked in 11:54.51, with the Screaming Eagles next in 11:54.64. Eastern Illinois was a few seconds back in third at 11:58.89. Little Rock held off the Blue and God to finish sixth in 12:42.42.
"We had a few good performances," Morehead State coach Clay Dixon said of Wednesday's action. "The women's DMR did well. We had a close shot at placing sixth but we are happy with (how we finished)."
Freshman
Natalia Davis competed in two events for the Eagles. She placed 26th in 8.32 in the 60-meter dash. Southern Indiana's Oliva Clark also was timed in 8.32, but captured 25th after the time was taken to the thousandths of a second with Clark at 8.312 and Davis at 8.314. Later in the day, Davis returned to claim 24th in the 200-meter dash in 28.09. The finals in both events will take place on Thursday with the eight fastest performers from the prelims advancing.
The team had disappointing results in the 800-meter run, the event in which the Eagles had hoped to compete for a top finish. Seeded sixth, sophomore
Lucy Singleton placed 10th, while junior
Mary Alice Thornburg finished where she was seeded, in 14th. Thornburg posted a season-best mark of 2:29.48.
Singleton was just eight one-hundredths of a second out of qualifying for the finals after being clocked in 2:19.09. Eastern Illinois' Kathryn Cichon finished eighth in 2:19.01, with Southeast Missouri's Erika Mellor taking ninth after being timed in 2:19.07. Singleton placed ninth in 2:17.95 at last year's championship.
"Lucy got boxed in in the 800m prelims and looked strong. She just couldn't get out. There were five girls surrounding her and she was in the middle and literally had no moves she could make unless she risked pushing someone and getting disqualified," Dixon said. "The winners of that race wanted it to go slow so they could save energy for their other races. Eight-hundred meters (races) indoors on a 200m track are incredibly risky. A lot of the time the best runner doesn't win or doesn't advance to the finals and it comes down to positioning."
Sophomore
Isabella Copher crossed the line 14th in 19:21.59 in the 5,000-meter run. It was just off her season-best time of 19:17.94. She finished 20th in the 3,000-meter run at last year's meet.
Southeast Missouri leads the women's standings after the first day's action. The Redhawks tallied 58.50 points in the five competed events. Tennessee Tech sits second with 30 points, followed by Southern Indiana with 28 points, Little Rock with 22.50 points, Eastern Illinois with 18 points, Tennessee-Martin with 15 points, SIU Edwardsville with 14 points, Lindenwood with four points, Tennessee State with three points and MSU with two points.
Southeast Missouri also sits in first with 64 points in the eight-team men's competition, Morehead State does not officially field a men's squad.
Competition resumes on day two, with six Eagles participating in three events. The women's pentathlon begins the action at 10 a.m. ET. The meet concludes with the awards presentation, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.
The mile will be the team's first race. It will start at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Live results can be found at the link:
http://www.milesplit.live/meets/516415. Thursday's action can be viewed on the paid service ESPN+ through the link:
https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=10424211-571f-466e-9c4f-f38bb27aac24.
