FORT WAYNE, Indiana - The Youngstown State track and field program captured four event wins during day one's action of the 2021 Horizon League Track and Field Championships from the Lutheran Health Fieldhouse.
Olivia Jones (pentathlon), Ryan Meadows (5000m), the men's 4000m D.M.R. squad and Terron Taylor (high jump) earned event titles for the Penguins.
YSU sits atop men's leaderboard in following friday's action, tallying 66 points. Milwaukee trails the Penguins and is in second place with 33 points.
The women currently sit in the second spot with 45.66 points and are chasing first-place Milwaukee (52.83 points).
In the inaugural event of the meet, Jones won her third-straight league title in the pentathlon, scoring 3439 points – a mark just shy of her 2021 season best of 3440 set at the YSU Mid-Major Invitational. Jones sat in second place behind teammate Emily Bee (9.03) following the first event of the pentathlon, clocking a 9.13 in the 60m hurdles. After, Jones rattled off three-straight event wins in the high jump (1.66m), shot put (11.13m) and long jump (5.42m) to propel her atop the leaderboard heading into the 800m run. Jones posted 2:49.50 in the event to seal her pentathlon win. Bee finished third overall, finishing with 3226 points.
Meadows, clocking a time that shaved 19 seconds off of his personal best coming into the meet (15:10.40), posted a 14:51.00 in the 5000m run and earned the gold in the event. With the win, Meadows notches the first YSU 3000m victory since 2015 and just the third time in program history. Fellow first-year Penguin Chase Easterling came in fourth (14:59.49). Together, Meadows and Easterling added 15 points to the YSU's friday total.
The men's 4000m distance medley relay team comprised of Ty Coon, Glen Knowles Jr., CJ Schumacher and Ethan Sparks posted a 10:18.91 and won the third event of the day for the Penguins, adding an additional 10 points to the team score. The quads' finishing time was a 2021 team personal-best, edging out the previous time of 10:30.81 set at the YSU Mid-Major Invitational.
With a jump of 2.07m on his first attempt, junior Terron Taylor secured just the third high jump title in program history and the first since 2017 for the YSU. Right behind, sophomore Lonnie Harper achieved the second-place finish, clearing 2.04m. In the last event of the day, the duo added 18 points to the team score.
The Penguins notched four top-ten marks in the men's weight throw, two in the top-five, with Joe Pfeffer leading the charge with a second place finish following a throw of 17.47m – a personal record for the junior thrower. Finishing in fourth, Dominic Perry also posted the best weight throw of his YSU career with a 17.21m. Zach Gehm finished sixth (16.43m) and Zach Gray finished eighth (15.46).
Sophomore Morgan Cole took fourth in the 5,000m after finishing with a time of 17:28.13 – a second shy of her personal-best. Meg Swietlik of Milwaukee, the 2021 women's Alfreeda Goff Athlete of the Year, took first in the event, posting a time of 16.57.10.
The women's 4000m D.M.R. squad consisting of Ashleigh Rowley, Alicia Lonsinger, Charlotte Crouch and Natalie Fleming earned eight points towards the Penguins' team total, finishing in second place with a time of 12:24.47 – a 2021 team personal best.
Junior Sammy Dyson was YSU's top finisher in the women's weight throw, finishing third after recording a personal-best mark of 17.79m. This is Dyson's second straight third-place finish during league championships. Freshman Lauren Sheehan finished eighth in the event while also notching a personal-best mark (15.39m).
After the first four events of the heptathlon, Riley Wright sits in seventh with 2328 points.
In the women's high jump, Stephanie Simon took fifth after clearing the bar at 1.60m on her second attempt and Jessica Stever was seventh following a jump of 1.55m.
The second day of the Horizon League Indoor Championships resume at 9 a.m. from the Lutheran Health Fieldhouse.
For news and updates throughout the Horizon League Indoor Championships, follow @YSUTrackFieldXC on Twitter.
