FORT WAYNE, Indiana – A pair of sophomores in Dominic Perry (shot put) and Jakari Lomax (long jump) picked up event titles for YSU in the second day of competition for the Youngstown State track and field team at the Horizon League Indoor Championships on the campus of Purdue Fort Wayne.
YSU sits atop the both leaderboards following saturday's action. The men extend their lead over Milwaukee to a 35-point difference, while the women jump out to their first lead of the meet by a narrow margin. The full scoreboard can be viewed below.
Perry boosted the Penguins to two-straight league titles in the shot put, posting a 16.53m throw. The Penguins also notched fourth (Zach Gehm – 15.91m), fifth (Zach Gray – 15.49m), sixth (Brock Grundy – 15.37m) and eighth-place (Austin Clay – 14.46m) finishes in the event. The five finishes added 23 points to the team score.
Going one, two in the men's long jump, Lomax jumped a personal-best 7.24m on his fifth attempt to win the event title for the YSU. Junior Daiquian Watson took the silver, jumping 7.07m.
A trio of first-year Penguins posted three top-five preliminary heats in the women's 60m hurdles, with Madison Murry clocking the fastest time of 8.80. Just behind, Teddi Kinsey (8.88) and Emily Bee (8.90) posted personal-bests en route to second and fourth-place times heading into Sunday's final heat.
Junior Cole Smith led the YSU effort in the men's 60m hurdles, finishing with the third-best preliminary time of the day (8.30), the fastest in his heat, and securing a spot in Sunday's final.
YSU clocked three top-five and a seventh-best time to secure four spots in the final heat of the women's 60m dash on Sunday. Kyndia Matlock put up the second-best mark of the day (7.56), tying her personal best set at the 2019 YSU College Icebreaker. Following Matlock, Suerethia Henderson (7.63) finished third in the preliminary round, Cyncere Cunningham (7.79) fifth and Antonella LaMonica rounded out the Penguins' charge, finishing seventh with a time of 7.82.
Junior Jamynk Jackson punched the sole entry for the Penguins in the final heat of the men's 60m dash. Jackson ran the fifth-fastest preliminary time of the day with a 6.99. Sophomore Christian Ford posted a top-ten preliminary time (7.06).
With a preliminary time of 58.07 in the 400m dash, Teneisha Myers solidifies her spot in Sunday's final race slated for Sunday at 2:30 p.m. This is Myers' third attempt at capturing the 400m title after finishing runner-up in 2018 and 2020. On the men's side, Glen Knowles Jr. clocked a 51.89 mark in the 400m dash, winning his preliminary heat and posting the 11th-best time in the event. Senior Pierlus Stewart finished 17th (52.46).
Led by senior Sean Peterson, YSU posted three top-five preliminary finishes in the men's 800m run to qualify for Sunday's final heat set for 6:30 p.m. Peterson posted a 1:56.38 that stood as the fastest time of Saturday's three heats. With an 800m victory on Sunday, Peterson would become the only runner in league history to win the event four times. Fellow-seniors CJ Schumacher (1:57.61) and Cole Lovett (1:57.96) picked up fourth and fifth-place finishes.
The Penguins tallied three top-five finishes in the women's long jump, with Jessica Stever leading the way with a second-place jump (5.60m). With a jump of 5.52m, Stephanie Simon tabbed the third-place spot and Alexis Prater finished fourth (5.45m). The trio added 19 team points for the Penguins.
Junior Sammy Dyson was the best Penguins' finisher in the women's shot put, notching a third-place throw of 13.18m – a new personal-best.
Riley Wright finished fourth in the heptathlon with 3995 points. The freshman ran the 60m hurdles in 9.96 seconds, cleared the bar at 3.45m in the pole vault and finished his day with a 1000m time of 3:01.52. Wright jumped from the sixth-place spot to fourth following his 1000m performance – at time just shy of his personal-best (2:58.14).
The third day of the Horizon League Indoor Championships resume at 11 a.m. from the Lutheran Health Fieldhouse with the mile run.
TEAM SCORES
WOMEN
1) Youngstown State 72.66
2) Milwaukee 70.83
3) Oakland 33.5
4) Robert Morris 31
5) Purdue Fort Wayne 21
6) Northern Kentucky 13
7) Wright State 10
8) Detroit Mercy 7
9) UIC 6
10) IUPUI 5
11) Cleveland State 3
MEN
1) Youngstown State 116
2) Milwaukee 81
3) UIC 19
4) Oakland 18
5) IUPUI 15
6) Purdue Fort Wayne 11
7) Detroit Mercy 8
8) Northern Kentucky 5
For news and updates throughout the Horizon League Indoor Championships, follow @YSUTrackFieldXC on Twitter.
