MOREHEAD, Ky. — After the longest span between meets in at least 15 years, the Morehead State men's and women's cross country teams will return to action for Saturday's Louisville Cross Country Classic.
The Eagle squads last raced at the EIU Walt Crawford Open on September 5, a stretch of 29 days.
MSU head coach
Clay Dixon hopes the rest will pay dividends.
"I think the layoff from racing will benefit the team as they are looking very fresh and eager to get to work," he said. "I think it will especially pay off come later in the season."
Saturday also features a return to the event at which the Eagles have participated 13 times in the last 16 years, after having skipped last season. The last time MSU was entered was in 2023, at the then-named Live in Lou Classic, where the men finished 20th of 46 teams and the women were 12th of 41.
Morehead State will compete in the Gold Division, with the men's 8K starting at 9 a.m. and the women's 5K at 9:45 a.m. The meet will take place at the E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. The races annually feature 300-400 athletes per event. This year's collegiate field is divided into three divisions, Silver, Blue and Gold, with the highest-ranking performers set to compete in the Gold Division.
The meet is sponsored by Swags Sports Shoes. Approximately 110 men's and 107 women's college teams are scheduled to participate. Schools are coming from as far away as California and include Austin Peay, Bellarmine, Butler, Clemson, Dayton, East Tennessee State, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky, Louisville, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Murray State, Northern Kentucky, Southern Illinois, Tennessee Tech, West Virginia and Xavier (Ohio).
"The team is locked in and ready to race. They look fresh and have been waiting for this opportunity," Dixon said. "I think we got some good chances to make big jumps for people."
Dixon has entered virtually the entire roster. Fifteen men and fourteen women are expected to toe the starting line.
The last time out, both MSU squads finished fifth a month ago at Eastern Illinois.
The last time the two teams raced at the Louisville meet, the women posted the school's second-best finish since 2005, while the men had their best outing since 2018. The Eagles participated in the Blue Division that year. In 2022, the men were 24th and the women were 37th also in the Blue Division.
Junior
Taylor Allen, redshirt junior
Bella Almodovar, junior
Lani Baskett, redshirt junior
Lydia Bauer, senior
Christiana Brittian, sophomore
Meredith Campbell, freshman
Josey Corbin, senior
Natalie Curry, freshman
Sydney Filippazzo, junior
Adi Fuller, freshman
Addison Hill, senior
Kaylyn Holman, freshman
Lauren Jones, freshman
Peyton Lunsford, senior
Casey Skaggs, junior
Emily Spradlin and senior
Abby Taylor are the women's entries; although Spradlin, Taylor, and possibly Almodovar and Filippazzo, are not expected to run.
Freshman
Josh Arnett, junior
Brady Baker, sophomore
Weston Blair, sophomore
Brody Coleman, freshman
Kyle Crady, freshman
Lance Garner, sophomore
Preston Glassco, sophomore
AJ Hawkins, sophomore
Carter Lamb, graduate student
Aidan Massey, sophomore
Liam Parido, sophomore
Ryan Richendollar, junior
Keghan Thompson, junior
Garrett West and junior
Aidan Whitsell are all entered.
Only a handful of Morehead State runners have participated in the meet as Eagles.
In 2023, Thompson (347th in 28:17.1), West (400th in 29:43.9) and Whitsell (408th in 30:08.0) represented the MSU men. Allen (64th in 19:08.9), Brittian (193rd in 20:12.6), Taylor (257th in 20:47.0), Skaggs (348th in 22:07.1), Holman (356th in 22:16.1), Spradlin (377th in 23:53.6) and Curry (383rd in 25:41.0) crossed the line for the Blue and Gold ladies.
Taylor (218th in 20:07.9), Brittian (238th in 20:16.0), Holman (254th in 20:22.1), Skaggs (317th in 20:51.9) and Curry (415th in 24:41.6) also competed at the event in 2022.
Kyler Stewart and
Lucy Singleton were the top Eagle finishers in 2023. Stewart placed 96th in 26:08.3, while Singleton was 37th in 18:44.3.
It is the lone Saturday event on the team's 2025 schedule.
The meet can be viewed live at the link:
Live - PIC.RUN.
Live results are also available at the link:
https://www.flashresults.com/2026_Meets/xc/LouisvilleClassic/index.htm.
Morehead State will return to a normal schedule and compete in the Angel Mounds Invitational on Friday, Oct. 17 in Evansville, Ind., as a final tune-up for the Ohio Valley Conference Championships, Friday, Oct. 31 in Charleston, Ill.
