MOREHEAD, Ky. – Head coach
Clay Dixon is sending virtually the entire Morehead State track and field team to Lexington, Ky., for the two-day Jim Green Invitational. It will be the sixth consecutive season and the 10th time in the last 14 years the Eagles will compete at an event held at the UK Track and Field Complex.
"Let's go one more time before OVC and see what we can do," Dixon said. "Some have tapered a little to give it a final strong effort. It will be cooler than we are used to but that just keeps us on our toes and ready for anything."
It will be the full team's final meet before the Ohio Valley Conference Championships, which are scheduled in less than two weeks.
Dixon has entered 24 men and 19 women for the weekend competition that will begin on Friday at noon and continue on Saturday, with the first event on day two at 10:30 a.m. The 42-member contingent is one of the largest groups Dixon has sent to a meet in his tenure. Combined, the Eagles will enter 18 events a total of 66 times. Every healthy MSU athlete is expected to compete.
A total of 23 teams are entered, including Asbury (Ky.), Bellarmine, Cincinnati, Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky, Kentucky State, Louisville, Marshall, Pikeville (Ky.), Union (Ky.), Tennessee and West Virginia State.
The meet is not expected to be scored. All events will be finals except the 100-meter and 110-meter hurdles.
Over the last few years, the Eagles have recorded double digit "pr's" and several top-10 finishes at the meet. In 2025, the team had 25 "pr's" placed within the top 10 seven times.
The women's hammer throw begins the events at noon on Friday, but competition for the Blue and Gold will start with the women's long jump at 3 p.m. Freshman
Kalynn Pease and junior
Ginger Hayden are the Eagle entries. Last weekend at Louisville, Pease leapt 21'05.25" to set a school record and win the "A" Flight. She is currently ranked seventh in the nation. Hayden has a "pr" of 5.53m/18'01.75". She will be in the first flight. Pease will be in the second. At last year's meet, Hayden was 16th in 4.98m/16'04.25".
The women's javelin will begin at 3:30 p.m. and include junior
Erin Pease. There is only one flight. Her "pr" is 34.58m/113'05".
The women's 200-meter dash gets underway at 4:55 p.m. Six Eagles are entered.
Kalynn Pease and freshman
Kennedi Alford are both in Section 1. Pease holds the school record and has a "pr" of 24.07. Alford has a "pr" of 25.28. Sophomore
Maryah Counts is in Section 9. She has a "pr" of 25.90. Sophomores
Brooklyn Boyce and
Olivia Miles are both in Section 10. Boyce's "pr" is 26.76, Miles' "pr" is 26.46. Junior
Cheyenne Stark is in Section 11. Her "pr" is 27.15.
At last year's meet, Counts was 29th in 26.53, with Miles 31st in 26.68, Stark 34th in 27.28 and Boyce 35th in 27.42.
The men get started at 5:25 p.m. and will include nine Eagles. Freshman
Sam Afari will be up first in Section 3. His "pr" is 21.31. Freshman
Kyle Stepteau is in Section 5. His "pr" is 22.03. Freshmen
Luke Kelly and
Kyler Witt are both in Section 6. Kelly's "pr" is 22.32. Witt's "pr" is 22.46. Juniors
Derril Carr and
Cade Sullivan, and freshman
Jayce Stewart will be in Section 7. Both Carr and Sullivan have a "pr" of 22.66. Stewart's "pr" is 23.09. In Section 8, sophomores
Tate Glass and
Mark Whitener will compete. Glass' "pr" is 22.90. Whitener's "pr" is 22.58.
Last year, Whitener led the crew by placing 31st in 22.58. Carr was 35th in 22.75, with Sullivan 34th in 22.73 and Glass 37th in 23.06.
The women's and men's 1,500-meter run will follow at 5:45 p.m. and 6:05 p.m., respectively. Senior
Kaylyn Holman and sophomore
Meredith Campbell are both in Section 3. Freshman
Sydney Filippazzo is in Section 4. Holman's "pr" is 4:38.28, Campbell's "pr" is 5:00.36 and Filippazzo's "pr" is 5:11.82. Last year at the meet, Holman was 17th in 4:39.68 and Campbell was 25th in 5:00.36.
On the men's side, freshman
Josh Arnett and sophomore
Liam Parido are in Section 3. Junior
Brady Baker, sophomore
Preston Glassco and sophomore
Carter Lamb are all in Section 4. Arnett has a "pr" of 3:58.15. Parido has a "pr" of 4:04.41. Baker has a "pr" of 4:08.01. Glassco has a "pr" of 4:09.18. Lamb has a "pr" of 4:04.49. At the 2025 meet, Glassco was 56th in 4:11.64.
Friday's final event is the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The women will race at 6:30 p.m., with the men at 6:45 p.m. There will be one section for each gender.
Senior
Abby Taylor, junior
Adi Fuller and sophomore
Brody Coleman are the Eagle entries. Taylor's "pr" is 11:13.56. Fuller's "pr" is 11:38.71. Coleman's "pr" is 10:16.46. In 2025, Taylor was 7th in 11:18.96, while Coleman was 10th in 10:16.46.
On Saturday, field events open the competition at 10:30 a.m. with the women's discus and men's shot put. Kentucky will hold its Senior Ceremony at noon. The first track event begins at 12:40 p.m. with the women's 4x100-meter relay. The men follow at 12:45 p.m.
MSU will have entries in both 4x100m races. The women will feature a foursome of
Kalynn Pease, Counts, Miles and Alford, with Boyce as the alternate. The men's quartet will include Whitener, Afari, Kelly and Stepteau. Both groups set the school record last weekend at Louisville. The women will race in Section 2, with the men in Section 1.
Last year,
Aa'Nya Freeland,
Aaliyah Rodgers, Counts and Miles finished seventh in 50.11. Sullivan, Whitener, Carr and Glass were sixth in 43.01.
The women's 5,000-meter run will start its lone heat at 12:55 p.m. Redshirt junior
Christiana Brittian will be MSU's representative. Her "pr" is 17:40.46. The men's race will begin at 1:15 p.m. and also be just one heat. Graduate student
Aidan Massey, junior Keghan Thopmson, junior
Aidan Whitsell, sophomore
AJ Hawkins, sophomore
Ryan Richendollar and freshman
Lance Garner will toe the line for the Blue and Gold. Massey's "pr" is 14:49.39, Thompson's "pr" is 15:54.12, Whitsell's "pr" is 15:36.66, Hawkins's "pr" is 15:23.58, Richendollar's "pr" is 15:09.14 and Garner's "pr" is 16:08.81.
Last year, Richendollar was 13th in 15:09.14, with Whitsell in 15th in 15:36.66 and Thompson in 20th in 16:04.70.
The gun for the 100-meter dash will go off at 2 p.m.
Kalynn Pease will be in Section 1, with Alford in Section 2, and Boyce and Stark in Section 5. Pease holds the school record with a 11.67. Alford's top time is 11.84, with Boyce's "pr" at 12.68 and Stark's at 13.28.
The men's event will begin at 2:18 p.m. Stepteau will be in Section 3, with Whitener and Kelly in Section 4, Glass and Sullivan in Section 5, and Carr in Section 6. Stepteau's "pr" is 10.68, Whitener's is 10.82, Kelly's is 10.84, Glass' is 11.36, Sullivan's is 11.06 and Carr's is 11.27. Last year, Whitener finished 24th in 11.22, with Sullivan in 29th in 11.38.
The women's 400-meter dash starts at 2:40 p.m. and again the Eagles will have a school-record holder in action. Counts is that individual and her top mark is 56.97. She will be in Section 4. Miles will be in Section 5. Her "pr" is 59.22. Last year, Counts was 24th in 1:01.72, with Miles in 22nd in 1:00.08.
The men's 400m will go off at 2:55 p.m. Afari will be in Section 2, with Stewart and Witt in Section 4. Afari has a "pr" of 47.90, with Stewart at 51.05 and Witt at 50.50.
The Eagles' final event will be the 800-meter run. The team will have six women racing at 3:35 p.m. with seven men in action at 3:50 p.m. Holman will be the first to run and be in Section 2. The remainder of the group: junior
Lani Baskett; freshmen
Josey Corbin,
Lauren Jones and
Peyton Lunsford; plus senior
Casey Skaggs will all be in Section 4. Holman's "pr" is 2:16.12. Baskett's "pr" is 2:31.95, Corbin's "pr" is 2:35.97, Jones' "pr" is 2:29.49, Lunsford's "pr" is 2:32.24 and Skaggs' "pr" is 2:46.28. Only Baskett ran in last year's race and she finished 19th in 2:36.29.
Sophomore
Weston Blair will be in Section 1 of the men's race. Section 3 will include Lamb, Parido and freshman
Jesus Mendoza-Solis. Section 4 will round out of the contingent of Eagles with Baker, Glassco and junior
Garrett West. Blair's "pr" is 1:54.19. Lamb's "pr" is 1:58.55, Parido's "pr" is 1:58.10, Mendoza-Solis' "pr" is 1:59.54, Baker's "pr" is 1:59.73 and West's "pr" is 1:57.70. It will be Glassco's first collegiate 800m. Four of the group ran in last year's race, with Baker leading the way in 22nd in 2:00.22, with Parido in 19th in 1:58.60, Lamb in 21st in 1:59.70 and Blair in 23rd in 2:04.48.
Live scoring for the meet can be found at the link:
shorturl.at/ZSQLm.
The Eagles will take the next week off for exams before returning for the OVC Championships from May 14-16 in Little Rock, Ark.
