Highlighted by Anthony Woods' Horizon League Championship record and two more school records set, the Youngstown State track and field program tallied four event titles and sits atop the men's and women's leaderboard following the first day of competition of the Horizon League Indoor Championship at the Watson and Tressel Training Site.
YSU paces the women's competition following Saturday's action, tallying 68 points. Milwaukee trails the Penguins and is in second place with 51 points.
The men currently lead the conference leaderboard with 81 points, ahead of Milwaukee and Oakland with 49 and 24 points, respectively.
Three Penguins advanced to Sunday's final heat of the men's 60m, headlined by Anthony Wood clocking a Horizon League Championship record time 6.63 during preliminary races. Woods' time ties his YSU school record time posted at the YSU Collegiate Holiday Classic on Dec. 10. Tye Hunt (6.85) and Christian Ford (6.88) finished with the second and fourth-quickest heats.
On her sixth and final attempt of the event, Jessica Stever logged a YSU school record 5.94m (19' 5¾") mark in the women's long jump to edge the field and take the league title in the event. Stever's mark uplifts former-Penguin Alisha Anthony's record of 5.90m set during the 2011 season. The victory acts as the second long jump title of Stever's career, winning in 2019, after finishing runner-up in the event during the 2021 season. Alexis Prater (5.83m) and Nia Williams-Matthews (5.67m) went 2, 3 to compete the Penguin-sweep of the event and earn YSU 24 team points.
In the men's event, YSU would finish 2, 3, 4, 6 and go for 22 team points. Tye Hunt led with a 7.46m (24' 5¾") mark for the runner-up nod, and was followed by Daiquain Watson's jump of 7.42m (24' 4¼"), Samuel Challis' 7.34m (24' 1") leap and Luke Laubacher's 6.99m (22' 11¼") launch.
Clocking a time of 8.39, Madison Murry set a YSU record during preliminary heats of the women's 60m hurdles competition to take the top qualifying time into Sunday's event final. The Columbus, Ohio, native beats out former-Penguin Amber Eles' time of 8.40 set in 2018. Joining Murry, teammate Teddi Kinsey posted a time of 8.84 and advances on to Sunday's final, as well. During the men's preliminary event, Luke Lauchacher recorded a personal-best time of 8.01, which also posed as the second-quickest time of the afternoon to lock the freshman into Sunday's final race scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Following a runner-up finish a year ago, Morgan Cole stood atop this year's podium in the women's 5000m run after clocking the second-fastest time in school history of 17:01.13 to take event title. With the victory, Cole tallies just the second-ever YSU victory in the event. YSU placed two runners in the top-5 during the men's race and were led by Hunter Christopher's time of 14:28.94 for the bronze. Clocking a personal-best, Chase Easterling finished fifth with a time of 14:33.48.
The Penguins picked-up the event victory and 10 team points in the men's pole vault as first-year Penguin Elijah Nelson cleared a 4.90m (16' 0¾") bar for the event victory. Nelson's victory extends YSU's reign in the event to five straight seasons. Adding another four team points Jett Murphy tallied a top-5 finish with a 4.40m (14' 5¼") vault.
YSU added two second-place finishes and a fifth-place bout in the women's pole vault competition following a 3.79m (12' 5¼") vault by Katlyn Griffie and Erin Bogard and a 3.59m (11' 9¼") vault by Sydney Walker.
Earning the Penguins first title in the event since the 2020 season, Dominic Perry took the crown in the men's weight throw with an 18.33m (60' 1½") chuck. Taking the silver, Zach Gehm, in just his second outing of the season, launched an 18.07m (59' 3¼") throw. Combined with the fifth and sixth-place finishes of Brock Grundy (16.44m) and Zach Gray (15.88m), YSU grabbed 25 team points in the event alone.
Trying for the Penguins fourth-consecutive pentathlon conference title while acting as the only YSU representative in the event, Emily Bee fell just short of Athlete of the Year Natalie Block's winning score of 3722 points. Bee logged a personal-best score of 3583 points, which also qualifies as the second-highest score in YSU history. Bee tallied two first-place finishes in the event, winning the high jump (1.65m) and the long jump (5.42m), but would come in second in the 60m hurdles (8.90), fifth in the shot put (9.89m) and sixth in the 800m (2:32.84).
Acting as the final event victory during the last event of the day, the men's distance medley relay team comprised of Ethan Sparks, Ryan Laird, Mikel Lagaras and Ty Coon clocked the eighth-fastest time in program history of 10:14.96 en route to the league title in the event.
Clocking a personal-best time of 49.09, Ryan Laird posted the sixth-fastest preliminary time of the 400m dash and has secured his spot in Sunday's final heat scheduled for 1:45 p.m.
YSU will have four entries during Sunday's women's 60m dash final after posting the first, second, fourth and fifth fastest times during preliminary qualifiers. Jahniya Bowers, Kyndia Matlock, Suerethia Henderson and Cyncere Cunningham will chase a victory that would extend the Penguins streak to eight-consecutive seasons of winning the event.
Bowers, Henderson, Matlock and Murry will also compete in Sunday's 200m final after advancing out of qualifying stages. A victory would capture YSU's 10th event title of the last 11 years.
Ford acts as the lone Penguin representative in the men's 200m competition, clocking a time of 21.82 for the third-fastest preliminary time on Saturday.
Sean Peterson, Jack Wilcoxson and Evan Alten will contend for the men's 800m title, all advancing through Saturday's preliminary with the second, fifth and eighth fastest times of the afternoon, respectively. With a victory in the 800m, Peterson would become the only runner in league history to win the event five times.
Nicole Squatrito highlighted the women's 800m preliminary races, clocking the fastest time of Saturday's event at 2:13.36 to earn the automatic qualifier. Lauren Dolak (2:15.26) and Aiamyia Dudley (2:17.26) will join Squatrito in Sunday's event final with the fifth and sixth-fastest times of the afternoon.
Action is to resume Sunday at 9 a.m. with the final events of the heptathlon competition. Following, second-day field events will commence with the women's high jump competition at 9:15 a.m., leading to running events going at 1 p.m. with final heats of the men's mile run.
Team Standings
Women
1) Youngstown State – 68
2) Milwaukee - 51
3) Oakland - 34
4) RMU – 24
5) Purdue Fort Wayne - 23
6) Wright State - 14
7) UIC- 11
8) Detroit Mercy - 6
9) IUPUI – 3
10) Cleveland State
10) Northern Kentucky
Men
1) Youngstown State - 81
2) Milwaukee - 49
3) IUPUI - 24
4) Oakland - 11
5) Purdue Fort Wayne - 10
6) Detroit Mercy- 9
7) UIC - 8
8) Northern Kentucky - 2
For news and updates throughout the Horizon League Indoor Championships, follow @YSUTrackFieldXC on Twitter.
