DAY 1 STORY
MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Morehead State track & field teams picked up on Friday where they left off Thursday at the Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Coleman Sports Complex in Little Rock, Ark., by adding two more school records and seven "pr's'" on Day 2.
The Eagles also qualified five more athletes to the finals and picked up eight points in the women's long jump and another seven in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase.
"Lots of great performances from everyone. Let's end it on a high note tomorrow," MSU Coach
Clay Dixon said. "Very impressive sprint performances. … It's gonna be a fight all day tomorrow."
Sprinters led the way by breaking the school records, including twice in the 100-meter dash.
Freshman
Kennedi Alford broke teammate and classmate
Kalynn Pease's mark and qualified fifth for Saturday's finals with a time of 11.62. Pease also bettered her old school record to finish sixth in 11.65. The old record was 11.67.
Sophomore
Maryah Counts dropped time off her own school-best mark in the 400-meter dash by placing sixth in the prelims in 56.37.
Freshman
Sam Afari finished fourth in the men's 400m prelims nearly matching his "pr" with a time of 47.92. Freshmen
Kyler Witt and
Jayce Stewart also had solid performances, with Witt falling seven-thousands of a second off his personal bests by claiming 10th in 49.33. Stewart did set a "pr" and finished 11th in 50.73.
Sophomore
Weston Blair continues his trend of dropping time in the 800-meter run and placed sixth with a "pr" of 1:52.30.
He was one of seven in the race to set a facility record.
"(He) broke our men's 800m curse," Dixon said, referring to the team's ninth-place finish in each of the last three years. "Good to see him in finals. (A) 21-second difference from last year in this race."
The five Friday finals qualifiers combined with the five from Thursday are the most Morehead State has had in ages.
"If we are a gun and bullets are people in finals, we are a loaded gun," Dixon said. "Everything is competitive. This conference isn't gonna make anything easy. We are gonna fight for every point and they are gonna fight back. … (it's) gonna be a fun finals day."
The last event to finish on Friday was the long jump and Pease moved up one step from her result at the OVC Indoor Championships by taking second with a top mark of 6.19m/20'03.75", which she reached on her third attempt. Eastern Illinois junior Abby Venhaus repeated her title from the indoor season with a winning leap of 6.28m/20'07.25". Venhaus was second last May.
In the steeplechase, senior
Abby Taylor scored points for the fourth straight year as she finished fifth in the race after claiming eighth, fourth and second in pervious OVC outdoor meets. She ran with the lead pack for the better part of the first 2,200 meters before crossing the line in 11:28.18.
Junior
Adi Fuller, who was seeded seventh in the race, sat in seventh most of her heat until moving up a spot to claim sixth overall in 11:41.29.
Senior
Kaylyn Holman entered the 800m with high hopes and ran neck-and-neck with Tennessee Tech's Paris Bowles the entire way but Bowles was able to hold onto a slim lead at the finish. Unfortunately, Holman's time was not fast enough to qualify for the finals, but she clocked a 2:17.00 to take 10th, a five-spot improvement over her 2025 finish and four places ahead of where she crossed the line in 2024. She missed the finals cutoff by 1.54 seconds.
Sophomore
Olivia Miles took 92-hundredths of a second off her "pr" in the 400m and improved her finish over last year by one spot as she placed 15th in 58.25.
The Eagles had two "pr's" in the men's 100m, with freshman
Kyle Stepteau taking 12th in a career-best 10.67 and sophomore
Mark Whitener finishing 13th in a "pr" of 10.74. Whitener moved into fifth on MSU's all-time performer's list.
Junior
Cade Sullivan missed setting a "pr" by one-one thousandths of a second placing 17th in 11.08. Freshman
Luke Kelly was 18th in 11.10.
Sophomores
Carter Lamb and
Liam Parido both ran the 800m, their second event of the meet, placing 17th in 1:58.92 and 21st in 2:00.79, respectively.
In the long jump, junior
Ginger Hayden reached her final mark of 5.24m/17'02.25" on her final attempt and finished 14th. Sophomore
Brooklyn Boyce fouled on all three attempts and tied for 19th.
After two days in the team scoring, defending champion Southeast Missouri tops the men's field with 93.50 points. Eastern Illinois is second with 88 points, followed by host Little Rock with 42.50 points, Southern Indiana with 40 points, Western Illinois with 25 points, Tennessee State with 13 points, SIU Edwardsville with six points and UT Martin with four points. MSU has yet to score.
Defending champion Southeast Missouri continues to lead the women's standings. The Redhawks have 60 points. Eastern Illinois has a slim lead over host Little Rock for second. The Panthers have 47.50 points, with the Trojans at 46. Tennessee Tech sits fourth with 38 points, followed by Western Illinois with 32 points. Southern Indiana is sixth with 26 points, while SIU Edwardsville is seventh at 25.50 points. Morehead State remains in eighth with 16 points. Tennessee State has six points, with UT Martin at five points and Lindenwood at four points.
The action will conclude on Saturday with all events being finals. The Eagles will have 18 representatives competing. The day will begin at noon ET with the women's shot put and the women's triple jump. MSU will compete in the latter event, with Hayden as its representative. She is seeded 13th with a season-best mark of 11.41m/37'05.25". Last year, she finished 12th in 11.10m/36'05.00", which set a school record. There will be two flights with a total of 21 competitors. Hayden will be in the first flight.
The men's and women's 4x100-meter relays will take place at 1:30 p.m. ET (men) and 1:40 p.m. ET (women). MSU will have entries in both races. The Eagle foursome in the men's event is Whitener, Afari, Kelly and Stepteau; with Sullivan, Stewart and Witt as the alternates. The group has a top time of 41.10, which is fifth-fastest in the conference. Last year, MSU's quartet finished seventh in 42.90. There are seven total entries.
The women's 4x100m group will include
Kalynn Pease, Alford, Miles and Counts. Boyce, Stark, junior
Erin Pease, Hayden and Holman are all alternates. The Eagles' top time this year is 46.81, which ranks fifth in the OVC. Last year, MSU placed eighth in 49.43. There are nine entries spread between two heats of the race, with the Eagles in section two.
The men's and women's 1,500m finals are at 1:50 p.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET, respectively; and will include
Arnett (men's), redshirt junior
Christiana Brittian (women's) and Holman (women's). The men's 110m and women's 100-meter hurdles finals are at 2:15 p.m. ET and 2:25 p.m. ET, respectively. The men's and women's 400m finals are at 2:35 p.m. ET and 2:45 p.m. ET, respectively. Eagles Afari and Counts will both compete.
The men's and women's 100m finals are at 2:55 p.m. ET and 3 p.m. ET, respectively. MSU will have Alford and Pease in the women's event. The men's and women's 800m finals are at 3:10 p.m. ET and 3:15 p.m. ET, respectively. Blair will be Morehead State's representative in the men's race. The men's and women's 400m hurdles finals are at 3:30 p.m. ET and 3:35 p.m. ET, respectively. And lastly, the men's and women's 200m finals are at 3:45 p.m. ET and 3:50 p.m. ET, respectively. Afari and Alford will return for that event.
At 4 p.m. ET, the women's javelin will take place.
Erin Pease is MSU's entry. She is seeded 10th with an MSU "pr" of 33.83m/111'00". There is one flight and 14 total competitors.
The 5,000m is the final individual event. The men will run at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the women at 4:20 p.m. ET. The Eagles have four entries in both races. There will be only one section of the race and it will be finals only. Twenty-five individuals will be in each event.
Neither Arnett nor Holman have competed in that distance collegiately and both are entered.
Massey is the Eagles' top men's seed at 18th. His season "pr" is 15:00.65. Hawkins is seeded 32nd with a top time of 15:21.26, while junior
Aidan Whitsell is 39th with a season best of 15:37.44. Last year, he finished 23rd in 16:48.04.
The other three Morehead State women raced in the event last spring. Campbell is the primary contender. She is seeded 12th with a top mark this season of 17:40.46. In 2025, she was 12th in 18:23.30. Brittian is seeded 16th with a "pr" of 17:57.58. She did not finish the race last May and tied for 28th. Taylor is seeded 40th. She has only run the 5,000m once this outdoor season, crossing the line in 19:42.48. She was 20th last year in 19:07.33.
The 4x400-meter relay will conclude the meet. The men's race will be at 5:05 p.m. ET, with the women's race at 5:20 p.m. ET.
Morehead State's men are seeded fifth and are expected to include Afari, Stepteau, Stewart and Witt. Their top time this season is 3:18.80. Last year's foursome finished seventh in 3:25.84. However, no one from that team will be in Saturday's race unless Dixon has to dig into his alternates, which will include Kelly, Sullivan, Blair and Whitener. There are two heats with nine total entries. The Eagles will be in heat two.
The MSU women are seeded second and hold the school record of 3:51.08, breaking the mark held by last year's quartet which finished 10th in 3:57.80. Saturday's lineup is expected to include
Kalynn Pease, Alford, Miles and Counts. The latter two were part of last year's race. Morehead State's alternates will be Boyce, Stark, Holman and Hayden.
All 11 teams will have entries broken into two sections. The Eagles will be in section two. Western Illinois is the top seed with a time of 3:50.39.
The league will recognize each school's graduates who are competing this weekend in a ceremony at 5:40 p.m. ET. After that, there will be an award ceremony at 5:55 p.m.
Live results are available at the link:
https://milesplit.live/meets/750633/scoreboard.
ESPN+ will broadcast all three days of competition. Saturday's broadcast will begin at 2 p.m. ET and can be watched through the link:
https://shorturl.at/4Bdj3.
For additional information about the Championships, fans can check tournament central at the website
https://ovcsports.com/tournaments/?id=69.
The OVC Championships will not be the final meet of the season for the Blue and Gold.
Kalynn Pease is expected to qualify in the long jump for the NCAA East Regional meet at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Ky., that will take place between Wednesday, May 27 and Saturday, May 30. If Pease finishes in the top 12 at the regional, she will advance on to the NCAA Championships, which will run from Wednesday, June 10 through Saturday, June 13 at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore.
