Youngstown State University

    Track and field standout Jay Payne helped establish the high standard of excellence that the YSU track and field program embodies today.
    In the early 1990’s, he set two outdoor school-record marks that would not be broken until recently. His record in the 400m hurdles lasted an amazing 26 years, while the other, in the 110m hurdles survived for 23.
    Payne competed for the Penguins from 1989 through 1993, and during his time he set YSU outdoor records in the 110m hurdles and the 400m hurdles and the indoor mark in the 55m hurdles. His 400m hurdles record stood from 1991 to the spring of 2017 while his 110m hurdles record was the YSU standard from 1993 to the spring of 2016.
    In the 110m hurdles, he posted a time of 14.00 seconds during the 1993 outdoor season. That mark had nearly a half-second grasp on the record until Chad Zallow came along in the spring of 2016 to exceed Payne’s record. Zallow has been one of the top hurdlers in the country the past two years and in 2017 finished ninth at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the event.
    In the 400m hurdles, Payne’s top time of 52.11 seconds, which he set in 1991, was finally eclipsed this past spring. Collin Harden ran a time of 51.98 seconds to become the record holder in the event. Payne’s time was nearly a full-second faster than the runner who stood second, and that came 20 years after he set the mark.
    On the indoor circuit, Payne excelled in the 55m hurdles, the only hurdle event to be contested indoors. He posted a school record time of 7.63 seconds, which remains the school mark as the event has been changed to 60 meters. He maintained that record by more than a half second until 2004, when the second-fastest mark in school history of 7.85 seconds was run.
    Payne was a three-time team MVP and was a team captain for three years while at YSU.
    He was the first person in his family to obtain a college degree, and that was something he took great pride in.
    While at YSU he majored in Psychology and Criminal Justice and graduated Cum Laude. He later earned his Juris Doctorate from Syracuse College of Law in 1997.
    He is currently a practicing Attorney and is an Assistant Director of Law for the City of Cleveland.
    Payne was an outstanding athlete at Ursuline High School before attending YSU. He earned 13 varsity letters – four in track and field, four in soccer, three in cross country and two in wrestling. He was inducted into the Ursuline Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009.