Youngstown State University
Horizon League Championships
YSU Men's Track And Field Team Fights to Finish; Places Second
5/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Rochester, Mich. - The Youngstown State men's track and field team battled to repeat as Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field champions, but the Penguins came up just short falling six points shy of a title behind Milwaukee.
The Penguins had a strong first two days, but on Sunday the Panthers came on strong and with two events to go, the team race was tied. Both YSU and UWM scored 10 points in the 5,000-meter run setting up a best-finisher wins in the final event, the 4x400-meter relay. In the relay, the Panthers finished first while the Penguins placed fourth. Milwaukee scored 184 points to YSU's 178.
Winning events on the final day to lead the YSU charge was Conner Neu (hammer throw), Arnaldo Morales (high jump) and Leighton Antonio (100m dash).
Morales won the high jump early in the day clearing 2.06m on his first attempt. Milwaukee's Brett Pozolinski also cleared 2.06m, but that was on his second attempt. Jay Jakovina was fourth clearing 2.00m.
In the 4x100 relay, the first running event of the day, the Penguins were second with a time of 41.06 seconds behind the Panthers who posted a winning time of 40.87 seconds.
Antonio burst on the scene over the weekend with an impressive performance to win the 100m dash. Antonio ran a time of 11.03 seconds to win while teammate Carl Zallow placed second with a time of 11.11 seconds. Also for the Guins, Marcellus Embry was fifth and I'tavious Harvin was sixth.
Later in the 200m, Antonio was third with a time of 22.02 seconds while Embry came in fourth at 22.18 seconds.
In the two distance races of the day, the Penguins had four top-five finishes. Eric Rupe was third in the 1,500m run with a time of 3:50.79 while Austin McLean was fourth at 3:51.17. In the final distance race of the event, McLean was third with a time of 15:06.12 while freshman Ryan Sullivan placed fourth with a 15:08.64.
In the 400m hurdles, Caleb Lloyd was fourth and in the 110m hurdles he was fifth with a time of 15.34 seconds.
Neu closed out the field events with a dramatic win in the hammer throw. Fifth entering his final attempt, he had a winning throw of 62.62 meters to move into first by just .08 meters.
Earning individual honors for the Penguins were Antonio and Ryan Booth. Antonio was named the running Freshman of the Meet while Booth was selected the field Freshman of the Meet.
