HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Friday's women's race might have been the hottest in Morehead State cross country history, with multiple reports of temperatures over 100 degrees at the start. But that did not stop the Eagle ladies from finishing in second place at the season-opening Thundering Herd Invitational hosted by Marshall at the Kennedy Center YMCA Complex in Huntington, Va.
Three MSU women placed in the top 10 individually, while the Eagle men claimed a third-place finish and had two top-10 performers.
Watch Morehead State coach Clay Dixon talk about the two races.
The results were a repeat of last year, when the women were second and the men third. However, this time the men were within three points of second and 13 out of first. The women's competition was not as close as host Marshall dominated the event, finishing just shy of a perfect score and winning by 27 points.
Marshall tallied 20 points to take the women's title, followed by MSU with 47, Rio Grande (Ohio) 81, Shawnee State (Ohio) 90 and West Virgina Tech 150. Last fall, Marshall won with 40 points, while the Eagles were second with 52.
Rio Grande captured the men's crown with 45 points, followed by Marshall with 55, Morehead State with 58, Shawnee State with 68 and West Virginia Tech with 155. The 2023 race had Davis & Elkins take the title with 17 points, followed by Marshall with 52 and MSU with 83.
Unlike last year, both the men and women ran 5Ks. Last September, the men's race was an 8K.
Due to the heat, 10 of the 47 women's entries either withdrew ahead of the race or dropped out during it. Five of them were from MSU. The men's competition was after the women's and temperatures had dropped considerably by the time the gun was sounded for that race.
As they did last year, fifth-year runners
Laikin Tarlton and
Jacob Vogelpohl topped the teams. Both finished third, an improvement over 2023 when Tarlton was fifth and Vogelpohl was 14th. It was Tarlton's seventh time leading the team and Vogelpohl's second.
Last fall, Tarlton covered the 5K course in 18:21, which was the 15th-best time at that distance in school history. On Friday, she finished in 18:40.3.
Watch Tarlton discuss her race.
Marshall's Kylee Mastin won the event in 18:05.1, with teammate Hannah Wyler in second at 18:33.9, Marshall's Ellie Hosaflook was fourth in 18:43.7 and the Thundering Herd's Destiny Berryman was fifth in 18:52.0.
Sophomore
Taylor Allen moved up four spots from last year's finish to take sixth in 19:01.3, 2.4 seconds ahead of Rio Grande's Amarissa Kerns (19:03.7). Senior
Lucy Singleton placed 10th in 19:18.9. Last fall, under drastically different weather, Singleton was timed in 18:31, with Allen in 18:51.
Junior
Abby Taylor was 13th in 19:44.5, followed by freshman
Meredith Campbell in 15th in 19:55.7. Taylor moved up four places from her 2023 result. Junior
Kaylyn Holman was a pleasant surprise, taking 20th in 21:09.4. She was the only one of MSU's Friday entries to drop time over last year's race, which she completed about a minute slower in 22:09. It also was an improvement in placing by 33 spots.
Senior
Megan Bush also bettered her positioning by taking 22nd in 21:53.3. In 2023, she was 26th. The team's other two finishers, juniors
Casey Skaggs and
Natalie Curry also made impressive moves. Skaggs was 30th in 24:31.5, while Curry was 31st in 24:42.9. At last year's meet, Skaggs was 48th and Curry was 60th.
Four Eagles were forced to pull out during the race: sophomore
Lani Baskett, freshman
Natalie Cotton, junior
Hope Harris and sophomore
Emily Spradlin. Redshirt sophomore transfer
Lydia Bauer withdrew before the start for medical reasons.
All 17 Eagle men completed the race.
Vogelpohl crossed the line in 15:27.0, the fastest 5K time of his career, 47 seconds ahead of his previous best time which he set at the 2022 Eastern Kentucky Tri-Meet and MSU's second-quickest mark since 2012. Only Jesse Moreno's 15:11.33 in 2014 was better.
Watch Vogelpohl discuss his race.
Rio Grande's Tyler Jenkins won the meet in 15:11.0, followed by Shawnee State's Isaiah Lanoy in 15:25.9. Vogelpohl passed Shawnee State's Trevor Lanoy down the home stretch. He finished in fourth in 15:31.2. Marshall's Garrett Ferguson was fifth in 15:32.3.
Fifth-year Eagle
Peyton Fairchild was ninth in 15:45.5. Fairchild was 15th last fall. Like Vogelpohl, it was his best-ever 5K time, an improvement by just over 19 seconds. Fifth-year runner
Kyler Stewart was 16th in 15:54.4. Last year, he was 22nd. His previous "pr" was a 16:15.00.
Freshman
Ryan Richendollar was 20th in 16:01.3, with sophomore
Garrett West taking 25th in 16:27.7, sophomore
Keghan Thompson in 29th in 16:41.2, senior
Austin Montgomery in 30th in 16:43.3, freshman
Preston Glassco in 31st in 16:49.8, fifth-year runner
Justin Bland in 33rd in 16:54.6, freshman
Carter Hurley in 34th in 16:56.7, sophomore
Brady Baker in 37th in 17:00.5, freshman
Brody Coleman in 38th in 17:05.4, sophomore
Noah Bunting in 40th in 17:10.7, freshman
Weston Blair in 46th in 17:21.5, sophomore
Aidan Whitsell in 49th in 17:29.9, freshman
Liam Parido in 52nd in 17:43.3 and freshman
Carter Lamb in 59th in 18:26.8.
Several Eagles improved their placing from the 2023 race, none more so than Montgomery, who jumped 32 spots. Baker 24 positions, West 19, Bunting seven, Thompson two and Bland one also bettered their finishes.
Eight of the men's runners set new 'pr's". In addition to Vogelpohl, Fairchild and Stewart, Baker made the biggest jump in time slicing off two minutes and two seconds. West was not far behind taking off one minute and 26.5 seconds, with Montgomery dropping nearly 34 seconds, Bunting cutting off 23 seconds, Thompson chipping away approximately 21 seconds and Whitsell reducing his by 3.6 seconds.
Morehead State will take two weeks off before traveling to the Southern Showcase on Friday, Sept. 13 in Huntsville, Ala.
