MOREHEAD, Ky. – For the first time this season, head coach
Clay Dixon will break up the Morehead State men's and women's track and field teams for a pair of meets this Saturday. Ten individuals will travel north to Cincinnati's Oliver Nikoloff Invitational, while the bulk of the rest will go south to the Centre Invitational. The Centre meet begins at 10 a.m. on the Track in Andy Frye Stadium in Danville, Ky., while the UC competition starts at noon in Gettler Stadium and Coy Field north of downtown Cincinnati.
It will be the first time Dixon has had athletes participate simultaneously at different competitions since March 30, 2019, when the squads ran at North Carolina State's Raleigh Relays and Wofford's Terrier Relays.
The Eagles were scheduled to race at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational in 2020, but it was canceled due to the pandemic. MSU last competed in both meets in 2015. That year at Centre, the men placed 12th, while the women were 13th. In Cincinnati, the women had the upper hand after finishing 12th, with the men 15th.
It will be the first competitions for the Eagles since last running in the Jim Vargo Invitational at Bellarmine on March 17. There, both teams placed 11th.
"(It's) gonna be a windy weekend, but (it) should be a lot warmer than at Bellarmine two weeks ago. I think everyone is suited to compete with people at their level and should be fun," Dixon said. "Kyle is in the 10K at Cincy and Peyton is in the 3K steeple(chase) (at Centre) and that will be interesting."
Nineteen teams will be represented at the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational, including Ohio State, Purdue, Bellarmine, Northern Kentucky, Dayton, Detroit Mercy, Illinois-Chicago, IUPUI, Wright State, Kent State, Toledo, Bowling Green, Miami (Ohio) and Ohio. The meet also will serve as senior day for the host Bearcats.
MSU's female entrants are: sophomore
Lucy Singleton in the 800-meter run and sophomore
Laikin Tarlton in the 5,000-meter run. Among the men, junior
Toby Cook will be in the 800m; junior
Justin Bland will be in the 1,500-meter run; junior
Jarrett Forrest and sophomore
Garrett Watts will run the 5,000m; and junior
Kyle Embry will compete in the 10,000-meter run. Assistant coach
Charles Pruitt will oversee the squad.
"Even if the times are not the fastest (due to wind), it will be fun to just go out there and compete against some of those big schools at Cincinnati," Dixon said.
It will be the 55th running of the Centre Invitational, although the meet was not held last year. Twelve teams competed in the 2021 edition and approximately that many squads will participate on Saturday.
MSU racers will include: junior
Tayla Lee (100-meter dash and 200-meter dash), sophomore
Keana Meriwether (200m and 400-meter dash), freshman
Natalia Davis (100m and 400m), freshman
Christiana Lytle (800m), junior
Mary Alice Thornburg (800m), sophomore
Jennifer Ramirez (800m, 1,500m), sophomore
Megan Bush (1,500m), sophomore
Cloe Copas (1,500m), freshman
Casey Skaggs (1,500m), freshman
Abby Taylor (1,500m), freshman
Hope Harris (1,500m), freshman
Natalie Curry (1,500m), freshman
Kaylyn Holman (1,500m), junior
Isabella Copher (5,000m), sophomore
Sam Lucas (800m), sophomore
Austin Montgomery (800m), sophomore
Ethan Vance (1,500m), sophomore
Alex Murray (5,000m), junior
Justin Chavez (5,000m) and junior
Peyton Fairchild (3,000-meter steeplechase).
"Centre will be a good meet for those competing there," Dixon said. "We are testing some people out in different events and competition is looking good for that group."
Four individuals were entered in both meets and could run in either one: junior
Riliegh Owens (800m and 1,500m), freshman
Micah Gray (800m), junior
Wes Grogan (1,500m) and junior
Kyler Stewart (1,500m).
Both meets can be viewed online. Click
https://centrecolonels.com/watch/?Live=404&type=Live to watch the Centre Invitational and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkC9kvACe8A for the Oliver Nikoloff Invitational. Live results for the latter event can be found at the link
http://live.buckeye-timing.com/meets/518633/events.
The Eagles will take two weeks off before returning for the Centre Twilight on Friday, Apr. 14.
