MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Morehead State men's and women's indoor track and field teams completed their regular season on Friday and Saturday by setting or equaling 18 season bests and winning five heats at the Marshall Invitational on the Jeff Small Track in the Chris Cline Indoor Athletics Complex in Huntington, W.Va.
Junior
Lucy Singleton led the way with an historic performance in the mile, becoming the first Eagle female since MSU Hall of Famer Hopey Caudill in 1981 to go below five minutes, according to head coach
Clay Dixon.
"Lucy (had a) great race all around. She never let off the gas and came out with a huge personal best," Dixon said.
In a heat with three runners who all finished under five minutes, Singleton knew she was moving fast. She finished third in her heat and third overall with a 4:57.78. The school record is 4:54.70, while her previous "pr" was 5:06.60, set a month ago at the Marshall Alumni Classic.
Dayton's Abby Carter won Saturday's race in a new facility and meet record of 4:50.87. Marshall's Kylee Mastin edged Singleton for second in 4:57.33.
"I went into the race with the goal of breaking five (minutes), so had specific paces I wanted to hit. (Coach) Clay (Dixon) was giving my splits each lap, which helped me keep track of where I was at in the race and if I was on pace," Singleton said. "I went out a little fast but was able to hang on with my other splits and go sub five (minutes). I also had two other girls going sub five (minutes) in my heat, so I was able to use them to help push me into breaking that barrier!"
Senior
Laikin Tarlton finished sixth in the event n 5:16.19, with sophomore
Kaylyn Holman in 15th in 5:46.00 and junior
Cloe Copas in 16th in 5:50.05. Sophomore
Casey Skaggs was a late scratch.
Dixon believes Tarlton also 'pr'ed", while Copas and Holman notched season-best times.
"Laikin ran a personal best as well by 12 seconds," he said.
Senior
Kyle Embry starred for the Eagles in the men's race, finishing third overall in 4:14.56. In the second of his three events on the weekend, freshman
Armando Montes won his heat by 2.28 seconds in 4:29.13 to place eighth overall. He also won his heat in the 3,000-meter run at the Marshall Alumni Classic last month.
Freshman
Garrett West followed in 13th in 4:33.66, with junior
Sam Lucas in 25th in 4:51.49.
Embry sliced about a second and a half off his previous "pr", while Montes and West also dropped times from their races earlier this season. West's improvement was significant, chopping off over 24 seconds.
"Kyle (was the) same as Lucy. He went for it and never let off the gas. He was hurting towards the end, but that's what you want when you're going that fast. He had a solid 'pr' as well," Dixon said. "Armando and Garrett looked good as well, Armando especially when you consider he raced the 5K 12 hours before."
The men's and women's 5,000-meter runs were the Eagles' lone events on Friday. Sophomore
Abby Taylor was fifth in 18:46.79 and junior
Megan Bush was sixth in 19:33.46 in the women's race.
"Abby did great. She was just clicking off 66-67 (-second laps) the entire way and came away with a big 'pr'," Dixon said. "Megan looked solid. She had a great week last week and (we) are happy with the progress. She was in no man's land for that race, which is not ideal."
Redshirt junior
Jacob Vogelpohl paced a contingent of eight Eagles in the men's race. He finished fifth in 15:17.02. Senior
Kyler Stewart was ninth in 15:40.47, with senior
Peyton Fairchild in 11th in 15:51.73, fifth-year runner
Jarrett Forrest in 14th in 15:54.66, freshman
Keghan Thompson in 15th in 15:58.35, Montes in 17th in 16:06.84, senior
Justin Bland in 18th n 16:10.84 and senior
Alex Murray in 22nd in 16:47.55.
"The men's race was pretty packed; 29 competitors made it a little chaotic, but the competition was good and we came away with some good performances and a few 'pr's"," Dixon added.
Taylor and Fairchild set season-best times in the races. Taylor dropped over 36 seconds, while Fairchild cut off a little more than three seconds.
Freshman
Ginger Hayden matched her "pr" in the long jump and then returned to become the first Eagle in approximately 10 years to compete in the triple jump. She was 10th in the long jump at 5.08m/16'08.00" and fourth in the triple jump at 10.79m/35'05.00". She qualified for the finals in the latter event but passed on all three of her attempts.
"Ginger had a good day. (It) would have been great to get to the finals of the long jump but she did a good opener in the triple jump and is one foot away from a school record (of 36'03.04")," Dixon said.
Freshman
Derril Carr came through with a pair of "pr's" in both of his events. He was 15th in the 60-meter dash in 7.36 and 15th in the 200-meter dash in 23.45. His previous "pr's" were 7.37 and 23.87, respectively.
In addition, freshman
Cade Sullivan was 16th in the 60m in 7.52, missing out on matching his "pr" by one one-hundredth of a second. Freshman
Cheyenne Stark ran the 200m and placed 45th in 29.19.
"Derril, Cade and Cheyenne are all progressing well," said Dixon.
Dixon was really pleased with the 800-meter runs, which included redshirt junior
Jennifer Ramirez winning her heat and placing 23rd overall in 2:34.51, and freshman
Brady Baker claiming 13th in the men's race in 2:06.78. Both runners set new "pr's" by significant margins.
"It was a good race for me. I knew I could win the heat and 'pr', it was just the matter of making sure I pushed myself," Ramirez said. "The whole race I just kept thinking, 'you can go faster, you're not tired,' though the last lap I definitely was starting to struggle. But I refused to let anyone pass me so luckily, I had enough gas in the tank to keep the lead in my heat. I'm just happy that I 'pr'ed by five seconds. That's a big deal to me!"
Freshman
Emily Spradlin (25th in 2:38.64), sophomore
Hope Harris (28th in 2:46.21) and sophomore
Natalie Curry (31st in 2:52.48) also had strong races. Redshirt freshman
Bella Almodovar pulled out of the event.
"Our women's 800m runners all ran personal bests and executed the race plan perfectly," Dixon said.
Senior
Toby Cook placed second in his heat and 11th overall in the 400-meter dash. He covered the course in 52.16. For the second straight meet, freshman
Garrett West won his heat, holding off teammates (redshirt sophomore)
Micah Gray and Lucas, who finished second and third, respectively.
At the PNC Bank Bellarmine Classic, West won his 800m heat. On Saturday, he finished the 400m in 53.47 for 19th place. Gray crossed the line in a season-best 54.30 to claim 21st, while Lucas, in his second event of the day, was clocked in 55.85 for 26th. Montes was disqualified after a false start.
Like West, sophomore
Kaylyn Holman won her heat of the 400m by finishing in 1:08.62. Copas was just behind her in 1:09.45. Holman was 23rd overall, with Copas in 24th.
The 3,000-meter run ended the day for the Eagles. Tarlton finished 11th in 10:43.65, with freshman
Taylor Allen in 12th in 10:54.38 and freshman
Lani Baskett in 16th in 12:07.13.
In the men's event, freshman
Aidan Whitsell narrowly missed setting a new season best mark after finishing in 14th in 9:34.80, while freshman
Noah Bunting was 15th in 9:38.19. Vogelpohl was scratched from the race.
"(The) 3,000's were decent," Dixon said. "Aidan ran without a shoe for part of the race. Laikin was a bit tired from her mile earlier and Taylor did her first 3K ever."
Unlike the last two years, this year's meet was not scored.
Morehead State now begins preparations for the Ohio Valley Conference Championships, which will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 21 and Thursday, Feb. 22 in Birmingham, Ala.
