MOREHEAD, Ky. — The much anticipated opening of the Morehead State men's and women's track and field season is upon us. The Eagles will begin their indoor season on Saturday at the Marshall Opener on the Jeff Small Track in the Chris Cline Indoor Athletics Complex in Huntington, W.Va. Events begin at 10 a.m.
It will be the sixth time overall and the fifth straight year MSU will open its campaign at the event. It is the team's only meet of the fall semester. Exams begin on Monday and run through Friday.
Unlike years' past when only three or four teams competed, this season's version will feature 12 schools, including Northern Kentucky, the University of Charleston (W.Va.), West Virginia Tech, Glenville State (W.Va.), Pikeville (Ky.), Shawnee State (Ohio), West Virginia State, Midway (Ky.), Fairmont State (W.Va.) and Rio Grande (Ohio), in addition to host Marshall and Morehead State.
"I am excited about this meet coming up," said MSU head coach
Clay Dixon. "We got a full group of sprints and jumps competing, as well as a few distance and middle-distance runners. It will be a fun way to finish off the semester before they go into finals' week."
The meet has been scored in the past but is not expected to be this season. MSU's women placed second in both 2022 and 2023, and third in 2019. It was not scored last December. The Eagle men have participated in the meet in each of the last two seasons.
Dixon is taking 26 individuals, 11 of which will be making their track debut for Morehead State. Eagles are entered in 13 contests.
Four events will kick off the competition, including the women's weight throw, high jump and pole vault, as well as the men's long jump.
The Eagles will look to build off last December's performance when they excelled in the short sprints, setting the school's three best men's times ever and the top women's mark in their five trips to the meet.
The women's long jump is slated to begin after the men conclude with a listed start time of 11:30 a.m. It is the first event for MSU and will feature the debut of ballyhooed freshman
Kalynn Pease. On Saturday, the Flemingsburg, Ky., native will be targeting the school record of 18'02.25", which was set by Karen Jett in 1977. Pease owns a "pr" of 19'05" and has unofficially leaped 20 feet. Junior
Ginger Hayden and sophomore
Brooklyn Boyce are also entered. Boyce has never competed in the event collegiately and Hayden set the MSU record in the triple jump on the final day of the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Championships last May.
Hayden will be making her third appearance in the event at the meet. In each of the last two years, she finished fifth with a mark of 5.08m/16'08.00".
Running events will begin at 1 p.m., with the women's 60-meter hurdles, followed by the men's 60-meter hurdles. The Eagles will first take the track at 1:20 p.m. for the women's 60-meter dash preliminaries. Highly-touted freshman
Kennedi Alford and junior
Cheyenne Stark are both entered. It will be the first 60m for Stark.
At last year's meet,
Aa'Nya Freeland ran the second-fastest 60m in MSU history, finishing fourth in 7.95. It was the fastest an Eagle female had ever run at the meet.
The men's event follows at 1:30 p.m. Sophomores
Tate Glass and
Mark Whitener, and freshmen
Luke Kelly and
Kyle Stepteau will toe the line for MSU. Whitener is the lone returning performer, having placed 10th with a time of 7.17 last winter. That mark is both his "pr" and the fifth-best in Morehead State history.
The women's mile is at 1:40 p.m., followed by the men's event at 1:50 p.m. Freshman
Jesus Mendoza-Solis will represent the Eagles in the latter race. MSU did not run in either event last year. No Eagle women are entered in the mile.
Morehead State also will not have entries in either the women's or men's 5,000-meter run, which will take place at 2:05 p.m. and 2:25 p.m., respectively.
The rarely-contested 300-meter dash follows at 3 p.m. for the women and 3:15 p.m. for the men. Highly-touted freshman
Sam Afari will join junior
Derril Carr, Glass, Kelly, Stepteau and freshman
Kyler Witt in the race. Carr topped the men last December by finishing in fourth in 36.54. No MSU women are entered in their contest.
MSU will toe the line next in the women's 400-meter dash at 3:40 p.m. Redshirt sophomore
Lauren Gooderson, and sophomores
Maryah Counts and
Olivia Miles are the Eagle representatives. Miles had a hugely-successful race last year in her collegiate debut. She finished in second in 1:01.47, the team's fastest time at the meet since 2019 and the best for an Eagle indoors or outdoors since May of 2022. Gooderson and Counts did not run in last year's meet.
There will be no MSU men competing in the 400m. Glass finished sixth last year in the race in 52:50.
After a break for the finals of the 60m hurdles (women at 3:15 p.m. and men at 3:20 p.m.) and 60m dash (women at 3:25 p.m. and men at 3:30 p.m.), the meet will feature two of the unique indoor-specific races, the 1,000-meter run and the 500-meter dash. MSU will not run in either set of competitions.
The Eagles will conclude the meet with entries in seven of the final eight events, starting with the women's 800-meter run at 4:10 p.m. Sophomore
Emily Spradlin and freshman
Lauren Jones will toe the line for the Blue and Gold. Spradlin did not run in the meet last year. No Morehead State men are in the 800m.
MSU's biggest number of entries on the day comes in the women's 200-meter dash at 4:25 p.m. Alford, Boyce, freshman
Ava Claggett, Counts, Gooderson, Miles, Pease and Stark make up the Eagle contingent. Morehead State did not run in the race last year.
The men's 200m is at 4:35 p.m. and will just feature Whitener. He ran in the 60m, 300m and 4x400-meter relay last year.
The women's 3,000-meter run is 4:50 p.m. It will include juniors
Adi Fuller and
Lani Baskett, plus senior
Kaylyn Holman. MSU was not entered in the race last December, and returnees Baskett and Holman did not compete at that meet.
The men's 3,000m is at 5:05 p.m. Junior
Keghan Thompson and sophomores
Weston Blair and
Brody Coleman will suit up for the Eagles. None of the three raced at last year's meet. MSU also had no representatives in that race last December.
The final event is the 4x400m relay. Both Eagle squads will have two entries. The women will run first at 5:20 p.m. Both MSU ladies' entries are in heat two. The first group will include Alford, Pease, Stark and Boyce. The second group will be Counts, Gooderson, Miles and Claggett.
The men's 4x400m relay is at 5:30 p.m. Afari, Witt, Carr and Glass are in the first heat. Stepteau, Kelly Whitener and freshman
Jayce Stewart are in the second.
Last year, MSU's women's 4x400m entry crossed the line in fourth in 4:19.16. It was the fastest 1,600-meter relay since the 2022 OVC Indoor Championships.
The men's representative in the race only ran three legs before pulling out.
Live results from the meet can be found at the link:
https://shorturl.at/KCyJ9.
Morehead State will take the exam and holiday break off from practicing and return to compete on Saturday, Jan. 10 back at Marshall for the Alumni Classic.
