MOREHEAD, Ky. – One week after running at Eastern Kentucky, the Morehead State men's and women's cross country teams will return to the course to compete at the EIU Walt Crawford Open on Friday. The men are scheduled to run at 5 p.m. ET, with the women at 5:45 p.m. ET. It marks the only time this year that MSU will compete in back-to-back weeks. You have to go back to 2015 to find the last time the Eagles had meets on consecutive weekends, which they did twice that season.
The men's event is scheduled for an 8K, while the women's race is a 6K. A total of seven schools are entered, with most coming from within the Ohio Valley Conference. In addition to host Eastern Illinois and MSU, Lindenwood, Southeast Missouri, SIU Edwardsville, Lake Land (Ill.) College and Parkland (Ill.) College have entries. The latter two programs are two-year schools. PC will just compete in the women's event.
The meet will take place on the EIU Tom Woodall Panther Trail in Charleston, Ill., which will also be the site of the OVC Championship later this fall. It marks the first time that MSU will run in a "preview" meet since 2021. The Eagles last competed at Eastern Illinois in the 2017 OVC Championship, when the men were second and the women were ninth.
The last time Morehead State was entered in an event at the site of a conference opponent was October 18, 2024, when MSU ran in the Golden Eagle Invitational at Tennessee Tech.
MSU coach
Clay Dixon sat out several of his top runners last week in preparation for this meet. He wanted to give them extra rest and additional training opportunities.
"Our goal is to get a good feel for the course and practice our strategies for OVC," he said. "We had a team meeting on what we want to do and, if we make a mistake, we want to make it here (rather) than at OVC when it counts."
The course features crushed limestone and the team has been specifically training on that type of terrain as part of its preparations.
Dixon has entered 10 women and 14 men for the competition. Senior
Abby Taylor, senior
Kaylyn Holman, junior
Taylor Allen, sophomore
Meredith Campbell, senior
Christiana Brittian, redshirt junior
Lydia Bauer, graduate student
Aidan Massey, freshman
Josh Arnett, junior
Keghan Thompson, sophomore
AJ Hawkins, sophomore
Weston Blair, junior
Aidan Whitsell, freshman
Lance Garner and freshman
Kyle Crady will all be in their inaugural race this season.
"A lot of freshmen (will be) doing their debuts at the longer distances, so that will be fun to watch," Dixon said. "I'm excited to see our new group of guys too. I think our women have the talent to really race well also."
Junior
Adi Fuller, junior
Lani Baskett, freshman
Josey Corbin, freshman
Peyton Lunsford, sophomore
Ryan Richendollar, sophomore
Brody Coleman, sophomore
Liam Parido, sophomore
Carter Lamb, sophomore
Preston Glassco and junior
Brady Baker all ran last week at the Eastern Kentucky Invitational.
Fuller placed sixth overall on the 4K course in 15:49. Lunsford was eighth in 16:09, with Baskett 13th in 16:28 and Corbin 16th in 16:54.
Richendollar paced the men by finishing seventh in 19:24 over the 6K course. Glassco was 10th in 20:06, with Parido 11th in 20:15, Baker 14th in 20:33, Coleman 15th in 20:43 and Lamb 17th in 21:15.
The MSU men placed second at the EKU meet, with the women taking third.
Live results will be available at the link:
https://live.enduranceracetiming.com/meets/56066.
Morehead State will take off nearly a month before competing in the Live in Lou Classic, which will be held on Saturday, Oct. 4 in Louisville, Ky.
