MOREHEAD, Ky. – The reigning Ohio Valley Conference Runners of the Week showed why they earned those awards as Morehead State fifth year Eagles
Jacob Vogelpohl and
Laikin Tarlton finished second and eighth, respectively on Friday afternoon at the Golden Eagle Invitational in Cookeville, Tenn.
MSU's teams added to the performances by taking second in the men's competition and third on the women's side in the five-team meet at the Putnam County Sports Complex.
"We had a good day going head-to-head with some conference competition. OVC will be a dogfight in two weeks," said Eagle head coach
Clay Dixon.
The meet came just seven days after Morehead State had a series of impressive results at the Queens Cross Country Challenge in Charlotte, N.C. Prior to that event, Dixon wondered how a layoff that turned out to be one month would impact his club. Entering Friday's competition, the question was did the team have enough rest between races.
"I think we were a little tired from the race at Charlotte. People were sore, that's for sure," he said. "I think the guys had the worst of it since they raced back-to-back 8K's."
The MSU men collected 43 points to edge Northern Colorado (48) for second. Host Tennessee Tech won the meet with 31 points. Tennessee State took fifth with 126 points, rounded out by Tusculum (Tenn.) with 130 points.
In addition to Vogelpohl, fifth-year
Peyton Fairchild (sixth in 26:26.15) and freshman
Ryan Richendollar (eighth in 26:47.31) each claimed top-10 finishes in the 8K race.
"Jacob, Peyton and Ryan were the leaders for the first mile. Jacob took control and led the way until about a mile out, when he was battling with the Tech runner," Dixon said. "Overall, a good day. We went head-to-head with a team that placed fourth at OVC(s) the last two years, and Jacob was right on the heels of someone who has two top-5 finishes at the conference meet."
Vogelpohl's second-place finish was his best ever. His previous high mark was third, set in the season-opening Thundering Herd Invitational. Although his time (25:45.35) did not match what he did a week ago at the Queens' meet (25:11.6), it was his fourth career sub-26-minute performance.
He led the better part of the race, before getting passed by Tennessee Tech's Miceal McCaul around the last mile.
"I was pretty pleased with the race today. It was a small field, so I knew I wanted to give it a shot to be up at the top," he said. "I think Tech let some of us Morehead guys take the lead at the start and they eventually made some moves to pass us. I tried to match the move, but one of the Tech guys was right on my tail. He passed me with a little over a mile to go and I tried to stick with him. My last mile was pretty fast, but he just had more left than I did. He's a top runner in our conference, so I was excited to be up there close to him at the finish."
Fifth-year
Kyler Stewart was 13th in 27:04.16, followed by sophomore
Keghan Thompson in 16th in 27:34.82, freshman
Preston Glassco in 18th in 27:48.55, sophomore
Aidan Whitsell in 19th in 27:50.37, freshman
Brody Coleman in 20th in 28:00.22, sophomore
Garrett West in 22nd in 28:15.64, senior
Austin Montgomery in 23rd in 28:16.82, freshman
Liam Parido in 28:20.98, fifth-year
Justin Bland in 27th in 29:01.30, sophomore
Brady Baker in 29th in 29:20.56, freshman
Weston Blair in 31st in 29:28.25, freshman
Carter Lamb in 32nd in 29:31.35 and freshman
Carter Hurley in 35th in 30:26.73.
TTU's McCaul won the race in 25:37.39.
A week after every MSU male set a season "pr" on a fast course at Queens, no one bettered their time on Friday.
Tennessee Tech swept the day's events as its women scored 28 points to edge Northern Colorado (30). Morehead State was in third with 66 points, followed by Tusculum (Tenn.) with 128 points and Tennessee State with 136 points.
"Our girls' team had great races overall and a lot of 'pr's, especially considering we were coming off of a meet with a lot of 'pr's last week!" Tarlton said.
Tarlton covered the 6K course in 22:12.00. Dating back to last year, it was her fourth straight sub-23-minute 6K. It also was a 28.68-second 'pr'.
"I woke up sick yesterday and have had a lot of congestion. With that in mind, I just wanted to go out and try my best to race. I still managed to 'pr', which I am happy with," she said. "But I definitely did not feel my best, breathing was a lot harder than usual. I'm excited to get some rest, get healthy, then be back to 100% at our conference race! I'm looking forward to racing healthy and seeing what I can do!
Senior
Lucy Singleton led a trio of back-to-back-to-back Eagle finishers. She was 12th in 22:26.56, freshman
Meredith Campbell was 13th in 22:33.46 and junior
Abby Taylor was 14th in 22:38.57. Sophomore
Taylor Allen was 19th in 23:02.40, followed by senior
Megan Bush in 22nd in 24:02.66, junior
Kaylyn Holman in 24:17.32, junior
Christiana Brittian in 28th in 26:07.72, sophomore
Lani Baskett in 33rd in 26:49.12, freshman
Natalie Cotton in 34th in 26:58.11, junior
Casey Skaggs 38th in 29:26.16, sophomore
Emily Spradlin in 39th in 29:43.16 and junior
Hope Harris in 41st in 31:47.77. Redshirt sophomore
Lydia Bauer did not finish and tied for 45th.
It was the team's first 6K of the season and a "pr" for Holman by one minute and 40.08 seconds.
"Laikin came down with a bit of a cold the last couple days and you could tell she was working extra hard today," Dixon said. "Our entire top seven really went for it and battled the entire way and put (together) a good showing."
Tennessee Tech's Regina Mpigachai won the race by more than two minutes in 19:31.69.
Morehead State will be off for a week before the OVC Championship on Friday, Nov. 1 at UT Martin.
