The Youngstown State men's and women's cross country programs are ready to compete at the long-awaited Horizon League Championships on Saturday at Fairborn Community Park in Fairborn, Ohio.

The men's 8k will kick off the championship races at 11 a.m. followed by the women's 6k at noon.

Championship Preview

The men's squad looks to earn back-to-back conference titles following their impressive victory in 2022. The Penguins finished two-three-four to earn the trophy for the first time since 2018 and the third time in seven seasons. YSU was slated to win the Horizon League this season, earning nine of 10 first-place votes. IUPUI, who YSU finished runner-up to in 2020 and 2021, was picked to finish second behind the Penguins.

Senior Hunter Christopher finished runner-up in 2021 and fourth in 2022 and will look to earn the first individual conference title of his career on Saturday. Christopher has been the Penguins' top finisher at each race he competed in this season and has set a new school record mark each time. He became the first in program history to run sub-24 minutes in the 8k/5-mile at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational to set a school record of 23:50 and then went on to best that record by over 30 seconds in his following performance, clocking a 23:17 at the Arturo Barrios Invitational.

Senior Ryan Meadows has been YSU's number two finisher at each race he's run in this season. He finished third at the Horizon League Championships last season. At the Arturo Barrios Invitational, he ran a personal-best time of 23:43.3 to become only the second Penguin, after Christopher, to run sub-24 minutes in the 8k race.

On the women's side, the Penguins finished third at the 2022 Horizon League Championships and were picked to finish third again this year. Milwaukee was crowned the 2022 Horizon League Champion and was slated to win back-to-back titles this season.

Morgan Cole became the first woman in YSU history to earn the Horizon League Individual Cross Country Title in 2022. She finished 30 seconds ahead of the competition with a time of 21:25.5 in the women's 6k to earn the victory and will look to win back-to-back titles at the championship race.

In Cole's most recent race, she tied the decade-old 6k record at the Arturo Barrios Invitational. She clocked a 20:41 in her record performance to run sub-21 minutes for the first time in her career.

Penguin Participants:

Men's 8k:

Hunter Christopher
Ryan Meadows
Owen Brady
Blaze Fichter
Ty Coon
Thomas Caputo
Tyler Clark
Sage Vavro
Luke Baun
Beau Gorby
Connor Shingleton
Tobias Jones

Women's 6k:

Morgan Cole
Alyssa Deeds
Grace Rhoades
Hannah Wagner
Alayna Cuevas
Aiamyia Dudley
Kenzy Beckett
Malena Cybak
Caylee Mackey
Molly Hopple

Last Time Out

The Penguins were last in action at the Arturo Barrios Invitational in College Station, Texas. Alongside Christopher and Cole setting schools records, nearly every runner ran personal bests in an impressive performance for the team.

Christopher finished sixth overall in his record-breaking performance. Ryan Meadows also ran a time that would have beaten the previous 8k record. He clocked a 23:43.3 to finish 17th in the race as the second Penguin to cross the line.

After Meadows, redshirt-freshman Owen Brady ran a time of 24:19.0 to place 58th. Redshirt-freshman Blaze Fichter was the next Guin to cross the line with a time of 24:29.8 to finish 74th. Rounding out the scoring effort for YSU was Ty Coon who placed 90th with a time of 24:33.9.

Nine Penguins finished under 25 minutes in the 8k which prior to this race only nine Penguins had done in the history of YSU's cross country program. In addition to those above, Thomas Caputo (24:40.5), Tyler Clark (24:48.9), Sage Vavro (24:49.6), and Luke Baun (24:58.5) ran sub-25 minutes at the invite.

With five Penguins finishing in the top 90 for 244 points, the men finished sixth out of 39 teams including numerous regionally ranked teams and ahead of in-state competition Ohio State. 

Cole placed 54th out of an impressive field of 385 runners at the invite in her performance that tied the school record.

Alyssa Deeds crossed the line next for the Penguins, clocking a 22:16.0 for 212th place. Deeds' time ties for the eighth-fastest time in school history. Freshman Grace Rhoades ran a time of 22:47.3 to finish 268th while Hannah Wagner was close behind with a time of 22:49.0 for 271st place. Alayna Cuevas finished 284th with a time of 22:58.2 to close out the Penguins' scoring effort.

The women's squad finished 29th overall out of 41 teams.

Up Next

After conference championships, the Penguins will compete at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships on Friday, November 10 at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison, Wis. The women's 6k is set for 12:30 p.m. EST (11:30 a.m. CT) followed by the men's 10k at 1:30 p.m. EST (12:30 p.m. CT).

For live updates and results throughout the 2023 season, follow @YSUTrackFieldXC on Twitter.