Highlighted by Erin's Bogard's new Horizon League record, the Youngstown State track and field program won 12 league championships on Saturday of the 2021 Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Championships from Farmers National Bank Field in Youngstown.
Jahniya Bowers (100m), Christian Ford (100m), Collin Harden (110mH, 400mH), Erin Bogard (pole vault), Wyatt Lefker (pole vault), Jessica Stever (long jump), Jakari Lomax (long jump), Sammy Dyson (shot put), Dominic Perry (shot put), Olivia Jones (heptathlon) and the women's 4x100 team won event titles for the Penguins on day two.
YSU sits atop women's leaderboard in following Saturday's action, tallying 166.5 points. Milwaukee trails the Penguins and is in second place with 96 points.
The men currently sit in the second spot with 157 points and are chasing first-place Milwaukee (160 points).
Setting a new conference record in the event, Erin Bogard cleared 4.01m in the pole vault to not only uplift her previous school record of 3.95m set at the Miami (Fl.) Hurricane Alumni Invitational, but also set a new facility record in the process. With her new mark, Bogard has upped her record three total times on the season. Bogard's vault would go on to earn an event title for YSU.
In the men's event, Wyatt Lefker extended YSU's reign in the pole vault to four consecutive seasons after he cleared 4.87m on his final attempt to earn the event victory. For Lefker, he ha now won back-to-back league championships in the event with his win in 2019.
Olivia Jones accumulated a YSU program record 4866 points in the heptathlon en route to capturing back-to-back event titles, stretching from her championship in 2019. Olivia set two facility records (shot put, javelin throw), earned two runner-up finishes (long jump, high jump) and posted a trio of top-5 finishes (100mH, 200m, 800m) en route to her record-setting performance on the weekend.
Teammate Emily Bee, who sat atop the leaderboard through a portion of the event, posted a personal best point total of 4742 to earn the runner-up finish in the heptathlon.
Collin Harden secured added a pair of event titles to his prolific Youngstown State track and field career, reigning victorious in the 110mH and 400mH. Harden clocked a 14.35 in the 110m hurdles to take the event title and boosted the Penguins to four-straight conference titles in the event. In the 400mH, Harden clocked a 53.35 to win the gold.
Jakari Lomax lifted the Penguins to their first long jump title in five seasons, posting a 7.21m mark in the event. Teammate Tye Hunt also posted a top-5 finish in the event with a 6.95m jump.
Jessica Stever completed the Penguins' afternoon long jump sweep, earning the event title with a 5.77m mark. Not to be outdone, Alexis Prater (5.57) and Stephanie Simon (5.56) also tabbed top-5 tallies in the event. Simon's mark was a personal best.
Adding to her already impressive weekend performance, Sammy Dyson earned the gold in the shot put with a 14.27m mark, extending YSU's dominance in the event to 12 consecutive years. Close behind, Lauren Sheehan threw a huge personal best of 14.11m to nab the runner-up finish.
Dyson would go onto post another top-3 finish while competing in her final event on the weekend – the hammer throw. Dyson took a runner-up finish in the event with a 55.80m mark.
In the men's event, Dominic Perry earned the first outdoor shot put title of his young YSU career, throwing a 16.77m mark. Earning the runner-up finish, Zach Gray posted a personal-best 16.18m throw.
Jahniya Bowers captured the event victory in the 100m, posting a blazin' 11.78. Her victory boosted the Penguins to ten consecutive event titles in the event. Close behind, Kyndia Matlock grabbed the runner-up finish with an 11.89.
In the men's 100m, Christian Ford posts a well-deserved personal best (10.60) to edge the field and earn the 100m sweep for the Guins. YSU also earned points from Harden (10.73 - P.B.) and Tye Hunt (10.80 - P.B), who both found themselves inside the top-5 with third and fifth-place finishes, respectively.
Three Penguins qualified for Sunday's final heat in the women's 200m, with Kyndia Matlock leading the charge by clocking a 24.52 prelim race. Teneisha Myers (25.06) and Jahniya Bowers (24.21) finished with the 4th and 5th-fastest races on the day.
The Penguins posted two top-4 finishes in the men's hammer throw, including a runner-up finish by Joe Pfeffer with a 56.07m throw. Gray earned his second finish inside the top-four on the day, posting a 52.82m mark in the event – a new personal-best.
Clocking a 1:54.34, Sean Peterson posted the second-fastest preliminary time of the 800m race and has secured his spot in Sunday's final heat scheduled for 1:50 p.m.
Maggie Sebest ran a personal-best 11:10.28 in the 3000m steeplechase to earn a top-5 finish in the event. Sebest moves two spots from her seventh-place finish in 2019.
Ending the day, the men's and women's 4x100 teams showed out, tallying two top-2 finishes, including an event title. The women's squad comprised of Kyndia Matlock, Jahniya Bowers, Logan Franczkowski and Teneisha Myers clocked a time of 46.35 seconds to cross the finish line ahead of the rest of the field. The men's team consisting of Hunt, Harden, Tobias Hayes and Ford set a new personal best and Farmers National Bank Field facility record en route to their second-place finish.
The final day of the Horizon League Outdoor Championships resumes at 9 a.m. from the Watson and Tressel Training Site (WATTS) with the men's high jump competition.
Schedule changes have been made to Sunday's final day of the 2021 Horzion League Outdoor Track and Field Championships going on this weekend at Farmers National Bank Field. Due to inclement weather in the forecast for Sunday, the meet now features a revised schedule and will include Sunday's competiton taking place in the Watson and Tressel Training Site (WATTS). Fans will not be permitted at the WATTS for Sunday's competition, per the Horizon League.
TEAM SCORES
WOMEN
1) Youngstown State – 166.5
2) Milwaukee - 96
3) Oakland - 78
4) RMU – 56.5
5) Purdue Fort Wayne - 25
5) Northern Kentucky - 25
7) Wright State - 21
8) Detroit Mercy - 19
9) Cleveland State - 17
10) UIC - 3
11) IUPUI
MEN
1) Milwaukee - 160
2) Youngstown State - 157
3) Oakland - 78
4) Purdue Fort Wayne - 35
5) Detroit Mercy - 27
6) UIC - 25
7) IUPUI - 10
7) Northern Kentucky -10
For news and updates throughout the Horizon League Outdoor Championships, follow @YSUTrackFieldXC on Twitter.
