MOREHEAD, Ky. – On first glance, the Morehead State men's and women's cross country teams which both finished second in a two-team competition, the season-opening EKU Invitational, that was held Friday morning at the Elmwood Mansion in Richmond, Ky., seems uninspiring.
However, with a deeper look, the Eagles fared very well against the United States Cross Country and Track and Field Coaches' Association's 12th-ranked men's squad in the national preseason poll. MSU's group did not run against all the Colonels top runners, but several notable individuals did compete and the Blue and Gold went toe-to-toe with them.
Although the Colonel women do not have the same national ranking as do their male counterparts, the Eagle ladies also were very competitive against a group that has long had MSU's number. On Friday, EKU's women scored 27 points, with MSU's women at 29. A year ago, EKU scored a perfect 15 points, with the Eagles tallying 58, finishing behind the third team in that race, Northern Kentucky (49).
In fact, in five years of competing at the event, Friday's result ties the closest MSU has ever come to beating EKU. In the spring of 2021 (the 2020 Covid season), the score also was 27 to 29. Other than that, the next closest the Eagle women have come was in the fall of 2021, when the hosts tallied 19 points to Morehead State's 36.
On Friday, the MSU men were not as close to toppling the hosts as were the women, but the results were impressive, nonetheless. EKU's men tallied 18 points to MSU's 37, and Morehead State's 2025 Ohio Valley Conference First-Teamer, doctoral student
Aidan Massey, withdrew from the race and did not finish. Last year, Eastern Kentucky scored a perfect 15 points to win the meet, with the Blue and Gold second with 57 points. Northern Kentucky was third with 58.
Yet, in five head-to-head meets with their rivals at the annual season-opening competition held in Richmond, Ky., this was the closest the Eagles have come to toppling their nationally-ranked counterparts.
Still, the results were unimportant to MSU head coach
Clay Dixon. The meet was essentially a competitive training race used as a tune-up for the schedule ahead.
"(It was a) good meet. It served its purpose. Everyone knows the routine now and got some work on the grass. Two weeks of good training and we'll be ready for some big races," he said.
The women's race was intended to be a 5K, but for some inexplicable reason the EKU coaching staff stopped the race early.
"The EKU coach (mis)counted laps and cut the women's race short...right when our girls started passing his," Dixon said. "The '4K' was actually like a 4.2K but times are irrelevant."
At that point, freshman
Shelby Lamb was literally on the shoulder of EKU's Ann Kiplagat and, according to Dixon, about to pass her. Dixon also noted that several other Eagles farther down the list were starting to overtake Colonel runners, which likely would have tipped the final results in MSU's favor.
"(Lamb) was just sitting on the leader and the cart pulled over and they finished without warning," he said.
"I felt really strong from the beginning and wanted to race patiently, gradually getting faster with each kilometer. Around 3.5K, I began making up ground and caught the leader. I was holding back and saving everything I had for a strong final 800-meter kick," Lamb said. "Unfortunately, there was some confusion with the lap count, and I didn't realize the race was ending, so I didn't get the opportunity to use that finishing kick. … But I'm even more determined and excited for the next race because I know I have so much more left in the tank!"
Although the times are skewed, officially the women's distance was recorded as a 4K. Kiplagat won in 15:21.0, with Lamb at 15:23.0. Eastern Kentucky's Ines Mrabet was third at 15:47.0, with her teammate, Bailee Montgomery in fourth at 15:55.0. Former Colonel and now Eagle sophomore,
Isabelle Shearer was fifth in 16:10.0. Freshman
Emma Coakley was sixth in 16:23.0 and junior
Meredith Campbell was seventh in 16:46.0. Rounding out the top 12, EKU's Caroline Fritz was eighth in 16:60.0, with MSU freshman
Audrey Adkins in ninth in 17:07.0, Eagle sophomore
Sydney Filippazzo in 10th in 17:12.0, EKU's Hadil Chiha in 11th in 17:14.0 and MSU freshman
Parker Mentzer in 12th in 17:20.0.
Sophomore
Josey Corbin placed 13th in 17:52.0, with sophomore
Peyton Lunsford in 14th in 18:18.0 and freshman
Kaitlyn Bradshaw in 15th in 18:24.0. Two Eagles did not finish the race, sophomore
Addison Hill and freshman
Abby Bastin.
Since 2012, the MSU women have only raced five "4K" events and Lamb's performance was the team's third fastest at that distance, trailing only Isabelle Copher's 5:19.55 in 2021 and
Lucy Singleton's 15:04 in 2022.
It was the first time Filippazzo completed a cross country race. Last year, she was a "DNF" in all three of her competitions.
Although times are not directly comparable due to the difference in distance, it was still a significant improvement for the Blue and Gold ladies relative to last year's EKU 4K race at the University Club of Arlington, when MSU's leader (
Adi Fuller) finished in 15:49.
Eastern Kentucky claimed the top four spots in the men's 5K event, with Cosmas Kiprop crossing the line in 14:47.0, followed by Enoch Bokaba (15:02.0), Hamish Murray (15:52.0) and Dillon Millard (15:52.50).
Freshman
Jake Hagan was the first Eagle finisher, taking fifth in 16:18.0, but the surprise was sophomore
Lance Garner placing sixth just one second back. Garner did not run a 5K last fall, but his top finish on the team in his three cross country races was 12th.
"Going into the race, I felt strong and confident in the work I had put into my training," he said. "My main goal was to be competitive with our top guys and use the race to test my fitness. I didn't have a strict plan going into the race, but I feel like I executed it well and stayed competitive throughout. As a season opener, I feel like this race was a step in the right direction and a huge confidence booster, especially coming off last season."
Freshman
Lucas Simpson placed seventh in 16:40.0, followed by EKU's George Wyllie in eighth in 15:51.00, MSU junior
Liam Parido in ninth in 16:51.50, MSU junior
Ryan Richendollar in 10th in 17:17.0, MSU junior
Brody Coleman in 11th in 17:27.0, MSU senior
Aidan Whitsell in 12th in 17:51.0 and MSU senior
Brady Baker in 13th in 18:01.0. Besides Massey, MSU's
Weston Blair also did not finish.
"Lance was probably (the) most outstanding guy(s') performance. Shelby would be (the) women's," Dixon said evaluating the Morehead State races.
Senior
Keghan Thompson was also expected to run but was held out due to illness.
Corbin bettered her finish by three places over last year's race (when she was 16th), while Filippazzo raised hers by 10 (after finishing 20th in 2025). Shearer placed fifth last year and repeated that outcome on Friday.
Parido improved by two spots versus his 2025 results (11th), Coleman jumped up four spots (15th), while Baker bettered his performance by one (14th).
Most of the Eagles had not previously run Friday's distance, but Parido did have a significant drop in his "pr" (17:43.24), improving by nearly 52 seconds.
MSU will return to action in two weeks at the Southern Showcase in Huntsville, Ala., on Friday, Sept. 18.
