MOREHEAD, Ky. – For just the third time in the last 10 years, Morehead State will host a cross country meet. The Eagle/Knight Invitational will take place Friday morning at the Eagle Trace Golf Course in Morehead. There is no charge for admission.
The event is being co-hosted by Kentucky Christian and will begin with the women running a 6K at 9 a.m. followed by the men's 8K at 9:50 a.m. It will be the MSU ladies' first 6K of the season. It also will be the Eagles' final meet before the Ohio Valley Conference Championships, which will be held at the end of the month in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
"It's always fun to compete at the home course. It's a fun course to be able to watch them race on. You could stand in two places and see pretty much the entire race," MSU head coach
Clay Dixon said.
Previously, Morehead State ran on the Eagle Trace course in 2023, when it hosted the OVC Championships. Prior to that, it was the home school for the Morehead State Eagle Opener, which was held in 2017 at the former Sunnybrook Golf Course in Morehead. In the former meet, MSU's men finished ninth (of 11), while the women were sixth (of 11). In the latter competition, both squads placed third of four.
Friday's events will include 10 teams and 71 runners in each race. Joining MSU and KCU are Brescia (Ky.), Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky State, Louisville, Marshall, Northern Kentucky, Union Commonwealth (Ky.) and West Virginia State.
The course will be the same as 2023 OVC Championships, beginning on the driving range and then winding through parts of holes No. 9 and No. 1, then skirting along 18, before finishing back on the driving range. The path will be two kilometers long with the women making three loops and the men four.
Southeast Missouri's Hannah Eastman (20:42.8) and Eastern Illinois' Adam Swanson (23:33.6) hold the course records, both of which were set at the 2023 OVC Championships.
Friday also marks the first time in the modern era that Morehead State will co-host a cross country competition, which will allow Coach Dixon to work with his father, Dodd Dixon, the head coach of Kentucky Christian.
"It's also pretty cool to be co-hosting with my dad at KCU," the younger Dixon said. "Growing up, I'd help set up meets at GRC (George Rogers Clark High School), when he was my coach. So, it's fun to be able to continue that at this level."
The Eagles will enter 12 women and 10 men. None of the MSU participants ran in either of the meets the program hosted in the last 10 years at Eagle Trace. So, this will be the first time for all 22 Morehead State runners on the course.
"I like how the field has turned out for the meet. We have 10 teams coming and (it) should give us a similar feel to how OVC will look," Dixon said. "This will be the first meet we race that has a similar size to the conference meet, so I think that helps them mentally prepare (for conference)."
Highlighting the Blue and Gold are doctoral student
Aidan Massey and freshman
Shelby Lamb. The pair have combined to lead the team in five of the six races this season, with the season-opening EKU Invitational being the exception. In that competition, freshman
Jake Hagan was the top Eagle male.
Massey has earned two OVC Runner of the Week accolades in his three races this fall, including after his 19th-place finish two weeks ago at the Swags Louisville Cross Country Classic. At that meet, he moved into fifth on the MSU all-time performers' list with a personal-best 8K time of 24:20.7. He currently owns the third-fastest time in the conference at that distance.
Senior
Brady Baker, junior
Brody Coleman, Hagan, sophomore
Lance Garner, junior
Liam Parido, junior
Ryan Richendollar, freshman
Lucas Simpson, senior
Keghan Thompson and senior
Aidan Whitsell will also toe the line for the Blue and Gold.
Simpson (25:25.5), Garner (25:46.8), Whitsell (25:55.9), Richendollar (26:15.5), Coleman (26:34.3), Parido (26:36.8), Thompson (27:41.0) and Baker (28:34.9) all set season-bests at the Louisville meet on October 3. Hagan suffered an injury before the race and did not fare as well as he did at the September 18 Southern Showcase. His "pr" is 26:06.69. Simpson, Garner, Parido and Whitsell also set their "pr's" at the Louisville meet. Richendollar's "pr" is 25:42.40, Coleman's is 26:25.60, Thompson's is 26:34.90 and Baker's is 27:28.7.
This will be the first collegiate 6K for five of the Eagle women. Lamb, who shared the OVC Runner of the Week honors on September 23, owns the OVC's fastest 5K time of 17:39.1, which she set on September 18, after placing 37th overall at the Southern Showcase. She will be joined by senior
Adi Fuller; junior
Meredith Campbell; sophomores
Josey Corbin,
Sydney Filippazzo,
Addison Hill,
Peyton Lunsford and
Isabelle Shearer; and freshmen
Audrey Adkins,
Kaitlyn Bradshaw,
Emma Coakley and
Parker Mentzer. Campbell owns the fastest 6K time of the group at 22:33.46. Fuller's "pr" is 23:03.0, Corbin's is 25:31.8, Lunsford's is 24:35.9 and Shearer's is 26:11.2. Filippazzo and Hill have not finished a collegiate 6K race.
Live results can be viewed at the link:
MileSplit Live Results
Morehead State will return to the course on Friday, Oct. 30, for the OVC Championships, which will be hosted by Southeast Missouri. It will be the two teams' penultimate event of the season, with only the November 13th, NCAA Southeast Regional remaining on the schedule.
