Slippery Rock, Pa. – The Youngstown State men's and women's track and field teams took advantage of a beautiful day by competing at the SRU John Papa Invitational at the William Lennox Track at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. Altogether, the Penguins claimed 10 event victories on the solid all-around day.
Winning events for the Penguins were Nate Lewins (men's 400m), Liana Rodriguez (women's 400m), Luke Laubacher (men's 110m hurdles), Mike Formica (men's 1500m), Nia Grose (women's 100m), Alexis Prater (women's long jump), Lonnie Harper (men's high jump), Logan Franczkowski (women's 200m), Olivia Jones (women's javelin) and Dom Data (men's 200m).
Harper had a huge win in the high jump as the men dominated the field. Harper cleared a career-best height of 2.05m moving him into seventh place in school history. Finishing in third place was Terron Taylor with a leap of 2.00m while Mason Stephens was fourth and Nathan Leskovac was fifth as both cleared 1.95m.
In the men's 400m dash, Lewins picked up the first win of his career as YSU took two of the top three spots in the race. Lewins clocked a winning time of 49.39 seconds while Ryan Laird was third at 50.95 seconds. The women also finished first and third in the 400m. Rodriguez was the only runner under a minute with a time of 57.88 seconds while Aiamyia Dudley was third at 1:00.69.
Laubacher brought home the win with a time of 14.34 seconds in the 110m hurdles while Formica added the first event victory of his career in the 1,500m run with a time of 4:06.92.
In the men's 200m dash, Data won the event with a time of 21.63 seconds while Jalen Ghee was fourth at 22.33 seconds and Taylor posted a time of 22.82 seconds while Donnie Ellis added a 22.83. For the women, Franczkowski won the 200m dash with a time of 25.42 seconds while Grose was fourth clocking a time of 25.81 seconds.
In the men's 100m dash, Data was second with a season-best time of 10.75 seconds while Ghee was just behind in fourth place at 10.76 seconds.
In the women's 100m, Grose earned her first career running win with a time of 11.93 seconds while Franczkowski was fourth at 12.32 seconds.
Jones earned the victory in the javelin with a throw of 38.79m. Prater picked up the victory in the long jump with a mark of 5.57m while Kodi Kinsey was fifth at 5.33m.
In the women's 100m hurdles, Teddi Kinsey was fourth at 15.09 seconds while Jones came in fifth at 15.39 seconds. Kinsey also finished fourth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:05.83.
In the women's 5,000m run, Hannah Wagner was second while Caylee Mackey was third.
In the women's high jump, Rachel Jeffries was fourth clearing 1.50m. In the men's 800m, Joey Stafford placed fifth with a time of 1:58.35 while Clancy Chrystal was sixth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 57.26 seconds.
Members of the squad will be in action on Friday and Saturday at the Virginia Challenge and the Jesse Owens Classic.
