MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State won nine events on Friday at its first home track and field meet in 43 years, the Morehead State Eagle Twilight. The seven-team, 20-event, non-scored meet took place on the A.L. "Buck" Dawson Track inside Jayne Stadium. Freshman
Aa'Nya Freeland, sophomore
Ginger Hayden and senior
Lucy Singleton each won two individual events, while Freeland was a part of a third, the women's 4x100-meter relay.
It also was Senior Day, where the Eagles recognized seven individuals whose careers will end in May. The ceremony took place prior to the first event.
The group includes:
Megan Bush Megan has been a top performer in cross country throughout her career for the Eagles. Over her four years on the team, she ran in every Southeast Regional and OVC Championship meet, with her best finish in the latter competition coming in 2022, when she was 34th. She has seven top-25 finishes to her credit, with her top overall performance coming in her very first race at the 2021 EKU Dual, where she crossed the line in 10th. Primarily a 5K runner on the track, she competed in two OVC Indoor and two OVC Outdoor meets. Her career was slowed by missing most of the 2022-23 track season, but she has rebounded by collecting four of her five podium finishes since returning to action. Her top result was fifth place in the 3,000m at the 2025 Marshall Invitational during the indoor season. The Ashville, Ohio, native also finished sixth twice in the 2024 campaign. A two-time OVC Medal of Honor and three-time OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll recipient, Megan also was named Academic All-District in 2022-23. She will graduate this spring with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in art with a concentration in graphic design. She was joined by her dad, Dan, and mom, Lara.
Wes Grogan A five-year team member, Wes missed all of the 2024 spring track and fall cross country seasons, taking a redshirt. Primarily an 800m runner, he made 15 podiums in track, with his best individual finish of fourth coming at both the 2023 Jim Green Invitational in the 800m and the 2023 Centre Twilight in the 1,500m. He competed in four OVC Championships, three times outdoors and once indoors. In four years as a relay team member, his best finish was seventh in the 4x400m in 2022. He also competed twice in the 800m and once in the mile, finishing between 13th and 16th. In cross country, the Paducah, Ky., native had three top-30 finishes, including taking second overall and first on the team at the 2021 Queen City Invitational, helping MSU to claim the team title. He also ran in the 2023 OVC Cross Country Championship and placed 67th. Wes has been honored twice on the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll. An accounting major, he will receive his degree next month. Wes was joined by his sister, Sophie.
Sam Lucas After competing for three years, Sam hung up his running shoes and became the team manager in 2024-25. In his career, he ran in 11 cross country meets, finishing in the top 30 four times, with his best performance coming at the 2023 Queen City Invitational where he placed 20th. He competed in 25 track races, primarily in the 400m and 800m, and made seven podiums. His best individual finish was seventh in the 800m at the 2024 EKU Springtime Invitational and at the 2023 Jim Green Invitational. He also competed at the 2023 OVC Outdoor Championships and finished 22nd in the 800m and ninth as a member of the 4x400m relay. Academically, he was recognized on the OVC Commissioner Honor Roll in 2022-23. A mechanical and manufacturing engineering technology major from Louisville, Ky., Sam will graduate this semester. Joining Sam were his dad, Tony, and mom, Allie, and his grandparents, Wayne and Sue Lucas.
Austin Montgomery Completing his fourth year on the team, Austin had a breakout cross country campaign this fall where he finished 23rd at the Golden Eagle Invitational and 30th at the Thundering Herd Invitational. He parlayed those performances into a spot in the lineup for the OVC Championship, where he finished 74th. He also ran in the 2021 OVC Cross Country meet. This semester, Austin set "pr's" in the 3K by finishing 13th at the EKU Spring Invitational and 14th in the mile at the Marshall Invitational. He has run every distance between 400 meters and 3,000 meters. Academically, Austin has twice earned a spot on the OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll. A mechanical and manufacturing engineering technology major from Louisville, Ky., he will graduate in December. Joining Austin were his mom, Dana, and dad, Carter.
Lucy Singleton One of the most successful Eagles in program history, Lucy's career is filled with a bevy of top accomplishments, including holding two school records and becoming the first OVC champion in track and field in 22 years after winning the mile in February. She was named the OVC's co-Track Athlete of the Week earlier this year and the co-Freshman of the Week in January 2022. Lucy currently holds the second-fastest time in the 800m in MSU history and is the top ranked athlete in the OVC in both the 800m and 1,500m this year. As a freshman, she broke the meet record in the 600m at the Marshall Classic. She also ranks among the all-time MSU top performers in two cross country distances. She has run in every OVC Championship since she arrived on campus. Indoors, she was eighth in the mile and sixth in the distance medley relay last year, as well as seventh in the DMR in 2023. Outdoors, she was third in the 1,500m last year, sixth in 2023 and seventh in 2022. She also finished seventh in the 800m in 2023. In her track career, she has won nine races, finished in the top three 23 times and earned a spot on the podium 50 times. Combined between this year's indoor and outdoor season, she has only finished outside the top eight in one race. In cross country, the Stanford, Ky., native ran in all four regional and conference meets. In the latter event, Lucy finished within the top 26 every year, peaking at 18th in 2021, leading the team three times. Overall, she has 11 top-25 finishes and five top 10s. Her top result was fifth at the 2021 Evansville Invitational. In total, she led the team in 10 races. In the classroom, she was Academic All-District in 2022-23, an OVC Medalist of Honor in 2021-22 and an OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll selection three times. Lucy will graduate in May with a degree in exercise science. She was joined by her mom, Tracy, dad, Eddie, and brother, Gabe.
Ethan Vance Ethan has been hampered by injuries for the better part of the last two years. He missed all the 2024 cross country and 2023-24 track and field seasons. However, he recently returned to run his first race at the Norse Track Invitational last weekend where he set a "pr" in the mile. In his four-year career, the Bardstown, Ky., native ran in two Southeast Regional and two OVC Championship cross country meets, finishing 64th and 66th in the latter competition. During his cross country career, he posted five top-40 results, with his best performance coming in 2021 at the Evansville Invitational, where he placed 16th. In track, Ethan primarily ran distances between 1,500 and 5,000 meters. His best finish was fifth in the 3,000m at the 2022 Clark Wood Invitational. Ethan is receiving his degree in mechanical and manufacturing engineering technology and will graduate this spring. Joining him were his mom, Amanda, dad, Toby, and sister, Kaylee.
Jacob Vogelpohl Jacob took advantage of a Covid year and competed for five seasons with the Eagles. Primarily a long-distance runner, he ran distances of 1,500m to 10,000m on the track. However, he made his biggest impact in cross country. He was named the OVC Cross Country Runner of the Week in October of 2024 and led the team in four meets this fall, including at the OVC Championship. He also paced the team once in 2023. Over his career, he had six top-25 finishes and seven in the top 40. His best outings came this fall, when he was second at the Golden Eagle Invitational and third at the Thundering Herd Invitational. He competed in three Southeast Regional and three OVC Championship meets, with his best finish in the latter, 27th, this past fall. On the track, the Independence, Ky., native has made nine podiums, including winning the 3K at the 2022 Clark Wood Invitational. This semester, he was third in the 3K at the Marshall Alumni Classic and fourth in the 5K at the Marshall Invitational. In three OVC Championships appearances, he finished as high as 10th in the 10K and 14th in the 5K, both coming last spring. An outstanding student, Jacob has earned both an OVC Medal of Honor and a spot on the conference's Honor Roll each year. In addition, he was named Academic All-District in 2023. A double major in computer science and mathematics, he will graduate in May. He was joined by his wife, Emma, mom, Debbie, and dad, Todd.
MSU's first attempt at hosting a meet started slowly as it shook out some early wrinkles, but as the evening wore on, things fell into place. A headwind on the backstretch slowed a lot of the day's times.
Watch Morehead State coach Clay Dixon discuss hosting the school's first meet since 1981 as well as some of the highlights of his team's performance on the MSU YouTube channel.
Freeland was the most successful Eagle. It was her first three collegiate wins. She captured the 100-meter dash by the largest margin (six tenths of a second) in 12.69. She won the 200-meter dash in 26.30 and then partnered with freshmen
Maryah Counts,
Aaliyah Rodgers and
Olivia Miles to take the 4x100-meter dash in 50.15.
See freshman Aa'Nya Freeland talk about her day on MSU's YouTube channel.
Sophomore
Cheyenne Stark was the only other Eagle in the 100m. She finished third in 13.32.
Morehead State had a large contingent in the 200m. Rodgers took second in 26.54, followed by Miles in third in 26.71, Counts in fourth in 27.48, Stark in fifth in 27.51, freshman
Brooklyn Boyce in sixth in 27.57, redshirt freshman
Lauren Gooderson in eighth in 27.76 and freshman
Mia Underwood in ninth in 27.88. Stark was the winner of her section.
Underwood won her heat and was the top overall finisher in the 400-meter dash. She placed third in 1:02.45. Counts was fourth in 1:02.77, Gooderson was fifth in 1:03.07 and Boyce was sixth in 1:04.98.
Singleton dominated her races and continued her string of finishing on the podium all but once this year. She captured the 800-meter run in 2:15.18 and the 1,500-meter run in 4:45.51. Junior
Kaylyn Holman had two strong performances in those races, taking second in both. Her 2:19.19 in the 800m was a "pr". She clocked a 4:51.43 in the 1,500m.
In the 800m, sophomore
Lani Baskett was 13th in 2:42.48 and junior
Hope Harris was 14th in 2:43.92. In the 1,500m, junior
Natalie Curry was eighth in 5:50.40.
Like Freeland, Hayden's victories in the long jump and the triple jump were the first two wins of her career. She recorded a season's best in the former event with a 5.07m/16'07.75" and then the third-best distance of her career with a 10.53m/34'06.75" in the latter. She only had four total legal jumps in her two competitions, in both cases getting her qualifying mark on her second successful attempt.
Redshirt senior
Jacob Vogelpohl and freshman
Carter Hurley were the only Morehead State men's winners. Vogelpohl captured the 5,000-meter run, with Hurley taking the 1,500m.
Vogelpohl led a six-member Eagle contingent in his race. He won by slightly more than four seconds in 15:19.45. Freshman
Ryan Richendollar was third in 15:45.27, with freshman
Brody Coleman in fourth in 15:47.90. Sophomore
Keghan Thompson was sixth in 15:54.12. Sophomore
Aidan Whitsell was seventh in 16:00.26. Redshirt senior
Wes Grogan was eighth in 16:12.74.
Hurley was running the first 1,500m of his career. He finished in 4:09.94, winning by 4.65 seconds. Morehead State took the top five spots.
Listen to freshman Carter Hurley discuss his 1,500m race on MSU's YouTube channel.
Glassco was second in 4:14.59, freshman
Liam Parido was third in 4:14.61, freshman
Carter Lamb was fourth in 4:18.75, sophomore
Garrett West was fifth in 4:20.18, sophomore
Brady Baker was seventh in 4:22.73 and redshirt junior
Ethan Vance was 12th in 4:42.77.
One of the best individual performances, despite a second-place finish, came from
Weston Blair in the 800m. The freshman set a "pr" by crossing the line in 1:56.92, just 15-hundredths of a second out of first. Baker was sixth in 2:03.80. Senior
Austin Montgomery was 12th in 2:12.34. Sophomore
Asher Jack, running his first event of the season, finished 16th in 2:26.18.
The women's 5,000m featured a 2-3-4-5 finish for the Eagles. Junior
Abby Taylor was second in 18:32.75, with freshman
Meredith Campbell in third in 18:49.28, redshirt sophomore
Christiana Brittian in fourth in 19:09.67 and sophomore
Taylor Allen in fifth in 19:11.54.
Two Eagles started but did not finish the 5,000m. Redshirt junior
Megan Bush in the women's race and freshman
Preston Glassco in the men's event.
Freshman
Mark Whitener took second in the 100-meter dash in 11.21. Sophomore
Cade Sullivan was third in 11.41, edging freshman
Tate Glass, who was fourth in 11.42. Sophomore
Derril Carr was fifth in 11.57, with freshman
Damien Lee in sixth in 11.96.
In the 200m, Glass was the top MSU finisher. He was fifth in 22.90. Carr was seventh in 23.24, with Whitener in 10th in 23.60 and Lee in 11th in 23.71.
The foursome of Sullivan, Whitener, Carr and Glass placed second the 4x100m relay in 43.08.
It was the first time this year that Morehead State had a 4x100m relay entry for either gender.
Normally the final event, the 4x400-meter relays were moved to second-to-last to accommodate the 5K as the marquee races. The men's 4x400m foursome of Hurley, Baker, Lamb and Blair crossed the line in second in 3:35.37. The women's quartet of junior
Lydia Bauer, Baskett, Harris and Curry were fourth and clocked in 4:54.75.
The meet also included several MSU alumni who returned to run unattached. That group included Justin Chavez,
Kyle Embry and
Kyler Stewart.
Morehead State has switched its plans for next weekend and will now run at Louisville's Jim Freeman/Clark Wood Invitational. The meet will take place Friday and Saturday.
