Cross Country opens season late at Commodore Classic

The Morehead State men's and women's cross country teams made their debut on Saturday at the Commodore Classic hosted by Vanderbilt University. While both squads are opening their season much later than normal, a host of athletes showed no signs of rust at the event held at Percy Warner Park.
The MSU men's team, which finished fourth out of 15 teams, had all underclassmen doing the scoring as three freshmen and two sophomores appeared in the Eagles top five. Pikeville freshman, Adam Stanley, kicked off his career impressively, finishing 12th in a time of 27:18 for the 8,000-meter course. Sophomore James Clements wasn't far behind, finishing 15th in a time of 27:19.
"I was really impressed with both Adam and James on Saturday," MSU Head Coach Dan Lindsey said. "They both worked really hard this summer and have come into the season with a vengeance." Rounding out the Eagles top five was Burlington freshman Jose Solis (25th/ 28:05) and Craigville, Ind., freshman Vic McHenry whose time of 28:23 was good enough for 37th place.
"We had some guys really step up on Saturday and I am proud of the way we performed," Sheets said. "The best is yet to come because we are just starting intervals which always make us stronger." Morehead defeated all other Ohio Valley Conference foes at the meet, which included Southeast Missouri, Murray State, UT-Martin, Tennessee Tech, and Tennessee State. Belmont University won the men's team competition. Louisville freshman Wes Seacat claimed the individual crown in a time of 26:26.
The MSU women's team picked up a sixth place finish among the 17-team field competing in Nashville. Memphis edged the Lady Eagles by five points for fifth place. Leading the way for the Lady Eagles was senior Karen Lutes, who was competing in her first cross country meet in two years after red shirting last fall. Lutes who had led MSU in her last 17 meets finished 33rd in a time of 20:44 for 5,000 meters.
Lindsey said he and Lutes were both confused about what went wrong on Saturday. "We were both disappointed that things didn't go very well for her and unclear as to what happened," said Lindsey. "We will hope for better results this weekend."
Lutes was followed by junior Alessa Velez who finished only 12 seconds behind the senior in 36th place. Englewood freshman Sarah McClellan debuted with at 45th place finish in a time of 21:19. McClellan admits the beginning of her first college race was an experience. "The competition took out extremely fast so I will have to adjust to that," said McClellan. "Overall I thought the team performed up to par considering our inexperience."
Rounding  out the Lady Eagles to five were Brooksville, OH Aubrey Walker (60th/ 21:48) and sophomore Alicia Brown (65th/21:55). Brown is nursing a foot injury and is questionable for Morehead's next competition on Friday at the Queen City Invitational in Cincinnati. Some Eagles will be competing in Saturday's MSU Invitational at Sunny Brook Golf Cours.