Fort Wayne, Ind. – The Youngstown State men's and women's track and field opened competition at the 2023 Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Lutheran Health Fieldhouse on the Purdue Fort Wayne campus on a strong note on Saturday.
Earning event victories for the Penguins were Wyatt Lefker (men's pole vault), Olivia Jones (women's pentathlon), Morgan Cole (5,000m) and Hunter Christopher (5,000m) all claimed wins.
In the team standings, the YSU men are off to a hot start while the women are in second behind Milwaukee.
The men scored an impressive 97 points to build a 52-point lead over Milwaukee. The women will have some work to do on Sunday as Milwaukee built a 80-55 advantage at the conclusion of the first day.
Christopher sprear headed a 1-2-3-4 YSU finish in the 5,000m taking first place with a time of 14:30.37. At the midway point, Christopher seized an opportunity to go in front and never looked back. His teammates turned up the heat as the race wore on and were the next three finishers. Ryan Meadows zoomed to second-place finish with a time of 14:35.38, Tyler Clark was third at 14:36.81 and Chase Easterling took fourth at 14:37.71.
Lefker won the pole vault for the third time in his career. After winning previous indoor titles in 2020 and 2021, he claimed the 2023 title by clearing a meet-record mark of 5.16m on his second attempt. He tried to clear 5.55m and just missed on his third and final attempt.
YSU added second and fourth-place finishes by a pair of newcomers to the league meet in the event. Dorian Chaigneau earned a second-place mark in his Horizon League debut clearing a height of 5.06m. Freshman Blake Sifferlin had a strong debut clearing 4.96m on his third try to finish fourth.
Jones won her fourth career pentathlon crown in impressive fashion. She had the top marks in the high jump and shot put and second-best in the long jump to score 3,730 points and win by 61 over Milwaukee's Natalie Block, who was named the Horizon League's Alfreeda Goff Athlete of the Year on Friday.
Cole claimed her second straight victory in the 5,000m run running a time of 17:07.47. Cole took control from the outset of the race and never looked back as she finished almost seven seconds ahead of PFW's Brooke Neal. Ashleigh Rowley placed fifth while Mackenzie Scott finished seventh.
It was the fourth title for Jones who had previously won the event in 2021, 2020 and 2019. Emily Bee finished eighth with a score of 2,949.
In the men's weight throw, the Guins placed second, fourth and fifth led by Dominic Perry. Perry had a toss of 18.15m to take second while Dante Mediati was fourth in his Horizon League debut with a mark of 16.85m and Zach Gray was fourth at 16.66m.
In the men's long jump, YSU took places third through seventh on the podium. Tye Hunt led the way with a third-place effort of 7.45m while Jakari Lomax as fourth (7.33m), Andrew Frank was fifth (7.17m), Luke Laubacher was sixth (7.08m) and Samuel Challis was seventh (7.06m).
In the women's pole vault, a pair of Penguins had strong second-place performances. Emma Etzwiler and Melana Schumaker each cleared the bar at 3.70m.
In the women's weight throw, Lauren Sheehan had an outstanding performance to finish in a tie for second place. Sheehan had a toss of 16.61m in the event.
In the final event of the evening, the men's DMR earned a second-place finish with a time of 10:18.32.
In running qualifying contests:
Women's 60m hurdles – Madison Murry (8.61 seconds) and Teddi Kinsey (8.92 seconds) both advanced to the finals.
Men's 60m hurdles – Luke Laubacher (8.15 seconds) and Harry Barton (8.41 seconds) both advanced to the finals.
Men's 400m dash – Ryan Laird (49.83 seconds) advanced to the finals with the fifth-best time.
Women's 60m dash – Jahniya Bowers (7.27 seconds), Kyndia Matlock (7.55 seconds) and Cyncere Cunningham (7.68 seconds) advanced to the finals.
Men's 60m dash – Tye Hunt (6.94 seconds), Christian Ford (6.94 seconds) and Jalen Ghee (6.96 seconds) advanced to the finals.
Women's 800m – Malena Cybak (2:18.42) and Carly Hall (2:19.13) advanced to the finals. Hall got tripped on her race and still moved onto the final race.
Men's 800m – Trenton Shutters (1:57.96), William Hanchosky (1:58.56), Mikel Lagaras (1:59.12) and Tobias Jones (1:59.25) advanced to the finals.
Women's 200m – Jahniya Bowers (24.30 seconds) and Kyndia Matlock (25.12) advanced to the finals.
Men's 200m – Christian Ford (22.17 seconds) and Harry Barton (22.48) advanced to the finals.
The final day of action starts bright and early on Sunday with the high jump at 9:15 a.m. Running events get underway at 1 p.m.
