MOREHEAD, Ky. – Day one at the Ohio Valley Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships had some highs and lows for Morehead State. The Eagles had multiple outstanding performances, including setting seven "pr's". However, illness forced the team to have to withdraw a pair of athletes who figured to contend for points.
MSU was entered in 10 events Tuesday on the 200-meter banked track in the Indiana Farm Bureau Fall Creek Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Ind., and set "pr's" in four of them.
Coach
Clay Dixon thought the track looked fast and his perception seemed to be on target.
"Abby (Taylor) and Christiana (Brittian) did great, they went out hard. I think both ran personal bests in the 3K," he said. "Cade (Sullivan) looked solid today, good to see some big personal bests from him. Lucy (Singleton) looked good, relaxed and controlled in the 800m."
Taylor, Brittian, Sullivan and Singleton were the clear standouts, but others fared well, too. Freshman
Tate Glass started the day off with a "pr" in the 400-meter dash and sophomore
Derril Carr added one in the 200-meter dash.
Singleton did what she needed to do in order to qualify for the finals in the 800-meter run, guaranteeing the women's team will score points. She automatically earned a berth to the finals after finishing second in her heat, jockeying with Tennessee Tech's Paris Bowles and Southeast Missouri's Erika Mellor throughout the race. Bowles edged Singleton at the line, finishing in 2:15.71. Singleton registered a season's best with a 2:15.83, with Mellor in 2:16.35.
Singleton entered the race seeded sixth overall with a top time of 2:16.23.
"It went good! I felt smooth," she said. "I went out faster than I wanted, but glad I got the Q. Just wanted to qualify today!"
She was fourth overall. Southern Indiana's Abrielle Richard had the top qualifying time of 2:14.75. Little Rock's Abby Machesky was third in 2:15.76. UT Martin's Maggie Roy (sixth at 2:16.35) and Rita Eimer (seventh in 2:18.60) also qualified.
It will be Singleton's first trip to the finals in the event. She did not compete in the race last year, after finishing ninth in the 800m as a freshman (2:17.95) and 10th as a sophomore (2:29.09).
Sullivan was the lone Eagle to set "pr's" in both of his events. He recorded a 7.06 (7.053) to place 15th. It was the fastest an MSU runner has achieved in 23 years and moved him up to third on the school's list of top runners in the event. He followed up by claiming 12th in the 200-meter dash in 22.71, cutting 42-hundredth of a second off his "pr". He was one-tenth of a second away from qualifying for the finals in the 60 and 86-hundredths of a second short of the same feat in the 200m. He is 51-hundredths of a second off MSU's top-five list in that event.
"I felt good. Me and (assistant coach) Rob (Springfield) talked about previous races and we decided that I was going to be more aggressive in both the 60m and 200m, especially out of the blocks. Doing that help(ed) me set up well and be able to 'pr'," he said. "Going to really build on this for outdoor! … I'm breaking the outdoor 200 top 5 this year for sure!"
Carr finished 17th in the 200m in 23.07 (23.069) and 22nd in the 60m in 7.60. Last year, in the former race, he was 21st in 23.44 and in the latter event, he was 19th in 7.41. He dropped one-tenth of a second off his "pr".
Freshman
Mark Whitener was 19th in the 60m in 7.19, just two hundredth of a second off his "pr". Freshman
Aa'Nya Freeland claimed 22nd in the women's race with a time of 8.08.
"The sprints program revival is going well," said Dixon. "Give it a couple more years and we should be established."
Glass finished 15th in 51.37. He improved his time by 22 hundredth of a second.
In the women's event, freshman
Olivia Miles placed 23rd in 1:00.84, freshman
Aaliyah Rodgers was 25th in 1:01.18 and freshman
Mia Underwood was 26th in 1:01.97. All three narrowly missed setting new a "pr".
A malfunctioning timer caused
Weston Blair's 800m race to be restarted after the runners had gone nearly a quarter of the way around the track. Blair was not the same after that and finished in 21st in 2:06.51.
Redshirt senior
Jacob Vogelpohl and freshman
Meredith Campbell both had to pull out of their 5,000m races due to illness. Campbell also was scratched as part of the distance medley relay, forcing Dixon to make some last-minute lineup adjustments.
"Bummer with the sickness going around on the team, it happens so just gotta do what you can with what you got," admitted Dixon.
Taylor and Brittian finished sixth and 11th in their heat, respectively, but what stood out was how much time each sliced off her "pr". Taylor trimmed 12.13 seconds, while Brittian cut off a whopping 28.81 seconds.
Overall, Taylor was 17th in 18:19.70, with Brittian in 23rd in 18:56.99.
The men's distance medley relay foursome of freshman
Liam Parido, Glass, freshman
Carter Lamb and redshirt senior
Wes Grogan placed ninth in 10:41.98. The combination of former Eagles
Toby Cook,
Armando Montes and
Kyle Embry, along with sophomore
Garrett West was sixth in 10:35.73.
Without Campbell running in the women's race, Dixon inserted Underwood into the 400m slot, moved Miles to the 800m and junior
Kaylyn Holman to the anchor 1,600-meter leg. Sophomore
Taylor Allen led off with the 1,200-meter portion. The group finished ninth in 12:57.74. Last year, the women's quartet of Allen, Holman, Taylor and Singleton crossed the line in sixth in 12:43.88.
Morehead State will return on Wednesday with all races being finals. The day will begin with the men's mile at 12:30 p.m. Grogan and Parido will toe the line. Grogan enters ranked 37th with a time of 4:23.11. Parido's top mark is 4:32.85 and he is seeded 58th.
Singleton's quest to grab the title in the mile will begin at 12:45 p.m. The top overall seed, she owns the school record with a 4:50.19. Her top competition figures to be Southern Indiana senior Audrey Comastri, whose best time this season is 4:51.12. Both will run in the second heat. The last time MSU won an event at the OVC indoor meet was in 2003.
Holman is also entered in the mile. She is seeded 32nd with a top time of 5:21.79 this year. She was 20th in 2024 in 5:26.81.
The 800m is next on the schedule at 2:20 p.m.
It is going to be quick turnaround for Singleton, who was MSU's lone individual to qualify for a finals' race.
"I feel confident. (I'm) going to go for the win and see what happens," she said. "Having the mile first will be good, so I won't have anything on my legs for that race and can be more competitive."
Vogelpohl is entered in the 3,000m. If he runs, he will be in the first heat starting at 2:45 p.m. He is seeded 33rd, with a top mark of 8:45.03. Last year, he was 21st in 8:48.27.
The first of two heats in the women's race is scheduled for a 3:10 p.m. start. Allen is in the first section, with Campbell in the second. Allen enters with a top time of 10:42.84 this season, while Campbell owns a 10:13.50. Allen is seeded 34th, with Campbell at 13th.
The meet will conclude with the 4x400-meter relays. The men's race goes off at 3:40 p.m., followed by the women at 3:55 p.m. Carr, Glass, Whitener and Sullivan are the Eagles' men's entry. They will run in heat one. They are seeded ninth with a top time of 3:32.22. Blair, Grogan, Lamb and Parido are the alternates.
Rodgers, Singleton, Underwood and Miles is the MSU women's representative. It is seeded ninth with a top time of 4:05.64. However, this will be the first time this year that Singleton will be a part of the group. Freeland joined Rodgers, Underwood and Miles on the relay that recorded a 4:05.64. Freeland and Holman are the team's alternates. MSU's entry will be in heat one.
An awards ceremony will end the day at 4:15 p.m.
After the first day, Southeast Missouri leads the men's competition with 57.5 points. Eastern Illinois is second with 43 points, followed by defending champ Little Rock with 42 points, Southern Indiana and Western Illinois are tied with 16 points, SIU Edwardsville with 8.5 points, UT Martin with eight points, Tennessee State with four points and MSU scoreless.
SEMO, the reigning titleholder, also tops the women's standings with 52 points; Little Rock sits second with 41 points; Southern Indiana is third with 32 points; Eastern Illinois is fourth with 23 points; Western Illinois is fifth with 15 points; Tennessee Tech is sixth with 14 points; SIU Edwardsville is seventh with 10 points; UT Martin is eighth with eight points; and Lindenwood, Tennessee State and MSU have yet to score.
An OVC Championships central page can be found at:
https://ovcsports.com/tournaments/?id=46.
Live results are available at the link:
https://pttiming.com/event.php?mid=2205&pt=schedule
The event also can be seen on ESPN+. The link is:
https://shorturl.at/zAtK9.
The Eagles' outdoor campaign will begin on March 21 at the Eastern Kentucky Invitational.
