Practice begins this week for coach Clay Dixon's Morehead State cross country and track and field teams. Twelve newcomers have joined 30 returnees as the Eagles prepare to open the 2022-23 year with the Eastern Kentucky Dual on Friday, Sept. 2.
Due to a quirk in NCAA rules, the track and field athletes began practicing Monday, with the cross-country runners starting Wednesday. Since Dixon's entire roster competes in track, all of the Eagles have begun their preseason.
Sophomores and juniors make up the bulk of the two rosters, so the squads are still in the growing phase. There is only one senior running cross country and the team regained the services of two individuals who missed either all of, or most of, last year. Only four athletes did not return.
A quintet of sophomores, some with two years of experience, headline the returning women: Laikin Tarlton (19:04.10 5K pr), Lucy Singleton (19:06.40 5K pr), Isabella Copher (19:31.10 5K pr), Cloe Copas (19:44.30 5K pr) and Megan Bush (20:02.10 5K pr); while junior Kyle Embry (26:03.70 8K pr), sophomore Peyton Fairchild (26:16.30 8K pr), junior Jarrett Forrest (26:31.80 8K pr) and sophomore Justin Bland (26:37.30 8K pr), are the top male runners back for 2022.
A handful of returnees, plus several newcomers will challenge the aforementioned five women who scored most of the team's points last fall. Junior Mary Alice Thornburg (19:44.40 5K pr) contributed early last year and ended up missing the entire track season due to an injury, but is cleared to resume competition. Junior Riliegh Owens (19:50.20 5K pr) and sophomore Lilly Gray (21:38.10 5K pr) also are back. Owens scored points for the squad in several meets, while Gray had more success during the spring.
Redshirt sophomore Hannah Hostettler (22:09.00 5K pr) and redshirt freshman Christiana Lytle sat out the cross country campaign, but did run in both the winter and spring. Redshirt sophomore Jennifer Ramirez joined the team midway through the track season and will run cross country for the first time this fall. Freshmen Christiana Brittian (Bardstown, Ky./Nelson County HS), Natalie Curry (Union, Ky./Ryle, Julia Douglas (Bulverde, Texas/Smithson Valley HS), Hope Harris (Ashland, Ky./Ashland Blazer HS), Kaylyn Holman (Crothersville, Ind./Crothersville HS), Emily Lowe (Louisville, Ky./Male HS), Casey Skaggs (Bardstown, Ky./Thomas Nelson HS) and Abby Taylor (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon HS) are newcomers who will run this fall. Five additional team members are sprinters and will begin competing during the indoor track season.
"We're returning a really strong group and also adding 10 new girls. We had a strong core last year and I think there's a really strong cast of athletes that can fill out the remaining spots," Dixon said. "Laikin, Lucy and Isabella each led us in two of our six races last year. Megan and Cloe are top-five girls from last year who are also returning. There's a whole lot of others with potential to mix in (and) be supporting players. Abby Taylor and Christiana (Brittian) have solid 'pr's from high school. Based on what I've heard, they could be in our top five by the end of the year."
Among the guys, the best news is the return of redshirt sophomore Garrett Watts (24:51.40 8K pr), who was MSU's top performer as a freshman, but with the exception of the opening cross country meet, missed all of last year. Sixth-year student Josh Grogan (26:25.00 8K pr) served as a graduate assistant coach in 2021-22, but returns to the team with one year of unused eligibility. His brother, sophomore Wes Grogan (28:16.40 8K pr), along with classmates Toby Cook (27:49.20 8K pr) and Jacob Vogelpohl (28:18.23 8K pr), all had solid track seasons and Dixon hopes they can build off what they accomplished in the spring.
Five different men led the team in cross country meets in 2021. Watts, Embry and Forrest all return. Redshirt sophomore Liam Dale (27:36.20 8K pr) was the fourth, having paced the squad at the Evansville Invitational. The other runner, Michael Dunagan, transferred.
Sophomores Kyler Stewart (26:57.30 8K pr) and Ethan Vance (28:16.90 8K pr) each scored points for the team last fall and are also back. Junior Justin Chavez (27:19.10 8K pr), who finished among the team's top seven runners in each of his races in 2021, plus sophomores Sam Lucas (29:50.10 8K pr), Austin Montgomery (27:52.60 8K pr) and Alex Murray (32:42.70 8K pr) all return looking to continue to improve. True freshman Gavin Brock (Ashland, Ky./Boyd County HS) and redshirt freshman Micah Gray (Cincinnati, Ohio/Eastern Kentucky Univ.) are the team's newcomers. Gray sat out last year, but was a member of the Kent State track and field team in 2020-21.
"The guys are an older group of mostly upperclassmen. I'm glad to have a healthy Garrett back. If everyone else progresses, we should have an improved men's team," Dixon said. "Jacob had good track season last year and I hope that translates into success this fall, so too with Toby and Wes. Then we have Kyle, Peyton and Jarret who are usually good cross country runners and hopefully they (will) continue to progress. Returning with an extra year due to Covid is Josh Grogan. When he stopped running (on the team) in the spring of 2021, he was in our top seven. We are hoping he can get back to that level and be a supporting player."
This week at practice, Dixon is looking to see the athletes' level of conditioning.
"(For) the distance runners (Wednesday) is the first test to see where we are. It'll be a tempo run. Some will run three to four miles, some six to eight. It's a fitness gauge. (Those distances are) my best way to determine that," he said. "Next week will be a big hill workout. That's the next determining factor. This is the time of year where everything is new (again). Over the summer, you have some kids do some work, some slack off and some just stay the same. There's lots of different factors. I've heard some rumors about some (promising runners) to look out for.
"(For) track, we're not rushing anything. Two extra strides in August aren't going to make us the best athletes. We took it nice and easy (Monday). We want to test some things out with a few workouts, experiment with some new things and have some fun," he continued. "There is no stress about racing now (since the first track meet will not be for several months). If you feel good, that's great, but if not, let's not make it worse."
The men and the women will open their season at the Eastern Kentucky Dual on September 2. It will be the third straight year the Eagles will begin the year by racing head-to-head against their arch rivals. Then the squads will take two weeks off before heading to East Lansing, Mich., for the Michigan State Spartan Invitational on Sept. 16. The Greater Louisville Invitational will follow on Oct. 1, with Bowling Green's Falcon Invitational serving as the final tune-up for the Ohio Valley Conference Championship. The former race will take place on Oct. 14, with the league meet on Oct. 29. For the second consecutive year, the season will conclude with the NCAA Southeast Regional at Louisville's E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park. That competition is scheduled for November 11.
"eKU will be a rust-buster. Some may not run if they're not ready yet, but it'll be a good chance to get the legs spinning again. We're going to some familiar places with eKU and Louisville, but I'm pretty excited about going to Bowling Green and Michigan State. We've never been there before. It'll be a chance to do something different. It's always fun to travel with the team. There has been a buzz on the team about (those meets)," Dixon said. "I've never been to Cookeville for the conference championship meet. That course is a total mystery. We'll see a handful of teams multiple times, but at Bowling Green and Michigan State, we'll see some new teams. Looking at the other OVC teams, most have Louisville on their schedule, but other than that it'll be different than the past few years and I'm excited about seeing some new faces."
By Brad Laux, MSU Athletic Media Relations