Track and Field to Make Trip to Bellarmine Meet for Fourth Straight Year

MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State indoor track & field returns to action for the third consecutive weekend as the entire team will travel to Bellarmine for Friday’s PNC Bank Bellarmine Classic at the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center in Louisville.On the women’s side, freshman Olivia Miles is entered in heat six, with freshman Aa’Nya Freeland and Gooderson both in heat seven. The first race will start at 3:30 p.m.Last year, West was the team’s lone heat winner, capturing the 800-meter dash in 2:02.73. He was 34th overall.The first event will begin at 9:45 a.m., with the women’s weight throw. The first competition on the track will be the men’s 3,000-meter run. All of the Eagles are entered in Open Division races.The 19-team event will include: Illinois-Springfield, Wright State, Midway (Ky.), Xavier (Ohio), Southern Indiana, Vincennes (Ind.), Morehead State, Hanover (Ind.), Western Kentucky, Evansville, Eastern Kentucky, host Bellarmine, Northern Kentucky, Cumberlands (Ky.), Transylvania, Ball State, Spalding, Dayton and Lindsey Wilson.For the second time this season, MSU will have two sets of entries in the women’s 4x400m relay. The event will begin at 5:10 p.m. Both of Morehead State’s representatives are in heat two. One group will comprise of Miles, Rodgers, Underwood and Singleton. The second will feature Boyce, Freeland, Gooderson and Stark.It will be fourth straight year the Eagles will participate at the meet. It also figures to be the only competition, outside of the Ohio Valley Conference championships, that will be scored this season. It also will be the first meet this year held on a track with banked turns.The women’s long jump also begins at 10 a.m. It will include sophomore Ginger Hayden, who finished 30th in 4.71m/15’05.50″ at last winter’s meet.Three individuals will be making their first appearance of the indoor season. Redshirt junior Ethan Vance has been sidelined since the 2023 Southeast Regional cross country meet. Sophomore Emily Spradlin last ran in the Golden Eagle Invitational cross country meet on October 18. Redshirt freshman Lauren Gooderson has been at MSU since August of 2023 and has yet to compete due to injury.Carr finished 50th in the event last year in 23.87.”Both groups have been hard at work,” he said. “The weather has definitely forced us to modify workouts but we have been looking good.”Singleton was a member of the relay team in 2022 that finished sixth in 4:20.00.The women will run their event at 1 p.m. That group will include senior Lucy Singleton in heat one, plus juniors Hope Harris, Natalie Curry and Casey Skaggs in heat four.”Many of the distance runners are in the same events as the previous meet, so the goal there is to see continued progression,” Dixon said.The first groups to hit the track and the 3,000-meter runners. The men’s race gets things underway at 10 a.m., with the women’s event following at 10:40 a.m. Because of the volume of competitors, all of the competitions will have heats.The women’s 400-meter dash will begin at 1:35 p.m. Sophomore Cheyenne Stark; and freshmen Brooklyn Boyce, Aaliyah Rodgers and Mia Underwood will represent the Eagles. Boyce and Rodgers are in heat one, Miles is in heat two, Underwood is in heat five and Stark is in heat six.Harris and Curry also competed in the 800 in 2o24. Harris was 67th in 2:50.10, while Curry was 69th in 2:53.27.Live results for the meet will be available at the link: https://live.dcracetiming.com/meets/43151.Morehead State will be in action for the fourth straight weekend and will make a return trip to Louisville and the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center for the two-day PNC Lenny Lyles Invitational.Last year, the men tied for 19th, while the women were 23rd. In 2023, the women placed 12th, while the men were 14th. In 2022, the ladies finished 11th and the guys were 13th.For the second time this season, Dixon will not enter anyone in the 60-meter dash, instead focusing on the longer distance.Holman, Baskett and Spradlin all ran the race last January. Holman was 70th in 5:47.71, Baskett was 76th in 5:56.93 and Spradlin was 81st in 6:11.49.Coach Clay Dixon is sending 17 women and 15 men to participate in 12 total events. However, several key team members are expected to take the weekend off. That group includes fifth-year runners Wes Grogan and Jacob Vogelpohl, junior Abby Taylor, sophomore Taylor Allen and freshman Meredith Campbell. All five ran last weekend at the Vanderbilt Invitational.The women’s race will begin at 2:25 p.m. and include junior Kaylyn Holman; redshirt sophomore Christiana Brittian; and sophomores Lani Baskett and Spradlin. There are 50 entrants in the women’s event. Holman will be in section two. Baskett and Brittian will be in section three, and Spradlin will be in section four.The gun for the first race of the men’s mile is slated to go off at 1:55 p.m. Sophomores Keghan Thompson and Garrett West; along with freshmen Carter Hurley, Carter Lamb and Liam Parido will represent the Eagles. A total of 64 men are running in the event. Thompson, Hurley, Parido and West are in heat four. Lamb will be in heat five.Last year, Singleton finished 22nd in the mile in 5:07.40, but in 2023, she won the 800m in 2:18.29. In 2022, she was third in 2:17.67.Senior Austin Montgomery, Vance, sophomore Aidan Whitsell and freshman Brody Coleman will represent the men; with redshirt junior Megan Bush suiting up for the women. Coleman will be in the second section; with Montgomery, Vance and Whitsell in the third. Bush will be one of 20 in heat one.The men’s 4×400-meter relay will feature Carr, Glass, Sullivan and Whitener. They will be in heat two. The starting gun will go off for the first race at 5 p.m.Two Eagles have run the 3K in previous Bellarmine meets. Last year, Bush was 19th overall. In 2023, Vance finished 52nd in the 3K in 9:45.19.Stark was 50th in the race last January. She crossed the line in 1:14.39.”Sprints are mostly in the 200m and it will be less technical,” Dixon said. “But it will be good to see how they look in the long sprints.”Dixon has been impressed by the efforts from the sprinters and distance runners so far this winter.There will be 13 sections of the men’s 200-meter dash. The first will begin at 2:55 p.m. Sophomore Cade Sullivan will run in heat two. Freshman Mark Whitener will be in heat four. Sophomore Derril Carr will be in heat six and freshman Tate Glass will run in heat 11.Despite the overall team’s performance, the Eagles had about a dozen individual personal bests.The men’s 800-meter run is the next race and feature sophomore Brady Baker and freshman Weston Blair. Both are in heat two. The first section will begin at 12:45 p.m.MSU will not have any men competing at the distance.