MOREHEAD, Ky. – For the second time in four years, the Morehead State men's and women's cross country teams will begin their campaigns at Eastern Kentucky. The Eagle squads will take to the course at the University Club at Arlington on Friday morning at 8:15 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. for the Eastern Kentucky Invitational.
The five-team meet will include host EKU, plus Kentucky, Louisville and Northern Kentucky in addition to MSU.
Using the term "early" to describe the event has dual meanings in an historical context for the Blue and Gold.
According to available information, it will be both the earliest start times for a race and the earliest start date for a meet involving MSU in school history.
In addition, the event will also feature unique set of distances. The women will run a 4K, while the men will hit the trail for a 6K. The last time MSU ran those mileages were in 2022 at the Eastern Kentucky Tri-Meet, when the women finished third, and the (spring) 2021 at the Eastern Kentucky Dual, when the men placed second.
Coach
Clay Dixon will only send a portion of his two teams to the competition. He is saving a handful of his best performers for the Ohio Valley Conference Championships test event at Eastern Illinois next Friday.
"We'll be sitting out some of our top runners for EKU, so they can train and focus on EIU the following week for the (OVC) course preview," Dixon said.
"We are all excited to get the season going. The weather is looking nice and cool for Friday and workouts have been going well," he added.
Dixon plans to enter 10 women, including senior
Casey Skaggs; redshirt juniors
Bella Almodovar and
Lydia Bauer; juniors
Lani Baskett and
Adi Fuller; sophomore
Emily Spradlin; and freshmen
Josey Corbin,
Sydney Filippazzo,
Addison Hill and
Peyton Lunsford.
It will be the first ever cross country meet for Almodovar, who has been injured for the better part of the last two years since she arrived from Arkansas Pine-Bluff. For five others (Fuller, Corbin, Filippazzo, Hill and Lunsford), it will be their first races as Eagles.
Junior
Brady Baker will be joined by a quintet of sophomores competing in the men's race.
Brody Coleman,
Preston Glassco,
Carter Lamb,
Liam Parido and
Ryan Richendollar will also toe the starting line.
Richendollar ran six meets last fall, finishing second on the team at the NCAA Southeast Regional. He also was third on the squad three times and fourth twice.
Only senior
Casey Skaggs, who finished 28th in 17:18.00 in 2022, has previously run at the meet. However, that competition was held on a different course.
MSU competed at EKU's season-opening meet in the spring of 2021, fall of 2021 and fall of 2022. However, this year's event will feature a different lineup. In the three previous competitions, there were either two or three teams, with Morehead State finishing at the bottom of the pack.
In 2022, former Eagle Kyle Embry placed second overall, notching the fastest 5K time for an Eagle since 2017. It also was the best individual finish for the Blue and Gold during the three-year stretch at the meet. Embry also led the team at the meet in the spring of 2021, placing seventh in the 6K race in 19:31.
May graduate
Lucy Singleton was the first female Eagle across the line in 2022. She covered the course in 15:04.00 to place 11th. It was the team's fastest time at that distance in at least 10 years, 16 seconds quicker than the top mark from 2021 and more than 21 seconds better than what she recorded the previous year.
In the fall of 2021, Garrett Watts was the top finisher, placing sixth, in what was then a 5K race. Isabella Copher led the women that season, claiming fifth in the 4K in 15:19.55. In the spring of 2021, Mary Alice Thornburg paced the women in third overall, clocking a 15:41 on the 4K course.
Morehead State will have the shortest break between races it has scheduled this year when the two teams return next Friday to run at the EIU Walt Crawford Open in Charleston, Ill.
