The weather at Friday's first day of the Kentucky Invitational was as pleasant as the Morehead State track team's performances.
It was exactly what coach Clay Dixon had hoped. Good weather equaled fast times.
Of the 23 athletes that competed for the Eagles on day one at the UK Track and Field Complex, 13 either tied or bettered their personal bests.
And virtually all of the rest posted season low times.
"I am incredibly happy about day one. It was good to see their hard work pay off in some fast times," coach Dixon said. "The weather finally cooperated and we had it about as good as it can get: a small tail wind for the sprints and no wind at all for the distance events."
The Eagles were only entered in three events, the women's 200-meter dash, and the men's and women's 1,500-meter run.
Things got off to a great start for Morehead State as all three of its sprinters set either seasonal or career 'pr's.
The most notable one was junior Dallas Jones, who was second in her heat, and finished in 49th overall with a time of 27.42, approximately half a second faster than her best-ever mark. Junior Sierra Kelley had the group's best performance placing 47th in 27.01, while junior Tayla Lee actually tied her 'pr' of 27.80, finishing in 52nd place.
"It was fun seeing people having big breakthrough races," coach Dixon said. "Dallas has been wanting to beat her 'pr' in the 200 for years and she destroyed it by about half a second."
More 'pr's' followed in the 1,500m.
Sophomore Laikin Tarlton topped the Eagles in the women's race, claiming 15th in 4:52.78. Sophomore Isabella Copher notched a 'pr' after finishing in 22nd in 5:00.74. Sophomore Hannah Hostetler followed in 27th in 5:09.94; with freshmen Megan Bush (29th in 5:10.66), Cloe Copas (31st in 5:13.71) and Jennifer Ramirez (33rd in 5:19.10) right behind. Ramirez set a 'pr' having only practiced for three weeks with the team. It was her first collegiate race.
The guys also put together strong performances, with three posting sub-four-minute times. Sophomore Michael Dunagan was 16th in 3:56.36, sophomore Jarrett Forrest was 19th in 3:57.83 and sophomore Kyle Embry was 21st in 3:58.02.
"Seeing three guys go under four minutes in the 1,500 was awesome, Kyle especially. Last year he did 4:02 three or four times and four minutes once, but never could dip below four minutes," coach Dixon said. "It was awesome seeing Jacob run a 4:05. That's about 4:23 or 24 for a 1,600m and his 'pr' in high school was 4:48, so his hard work is really paying off."
Several of MSU's runners finished among the leaders in their heat. Sophomore Jacob Vogelpohl was second in his race, claiming 28th in 4:05.71. Sophomore Wes Grogan was 30th in 4:06.86 after holding an early lead, while sophomore Liam Dale was third in his heat and 31st overall in 4:11.19. Sophomore Justin Bland was one spot back in the same race taking 32nd in 4:11.83. Sophomore Justin Chavez was next on the team placing 34th in 4:13.77, with junior Cruz Ortiz-Ramirez leading most of his section, before finishing 35th overall in 4:13.85.
Sophomore Kyler Stewart clamed 37th with a time of 4:15.21. Sophomore Peyton Fairchild placed 41st in 4:18.44, with freshman Sam Lucas in 44th in 4:22.61, freshman Alex Murray in 49th in 4:27.60 and freshman Ethan Vance in 53rd in 4:34.64.
Fifteen teams took part in the non-scored meet, that also included some individual non-collegian entries. Several world-class performances were recorded both by the school-aged and the post-graduate competitors.