Coach Shelby's Horizon League Champions
- 2015 Ryan Booth (HL Outdoor) Shot Put
- 2014, 2015 Conner Neu (HL Outdoor) Hammer Throw
- 2014, 2015 Jennifer Neider (HL Outdoor) Shot Put
- 2011, 2012, 2014 Bobby Grace (HL Outdoor) Shot Put
- 2011, 2012, 2014 Jessica Parham (HL Outdoor) Javelin
- 2014, 2015 Conner Neu (HL Indoor) Weight Throw
- 2014 Bobby Grace (HL Indoor) Shot Put
- 2013 John Seaver (HL Outdoor) Shot Put
- 2012, 2013 Allison Roth (HL Outdoor) Shot Put
- 2012, 2013 John Seaver (HL Indoor) Shot Put
- 2013, 2014, 2015 Jennifer Neider (HL Indoor) Shot Put
- 2012 Bobby Grace (HL Outdoor) Discus
- 2012 Bobby Grace (HL Outdoor) Hammer Throw
- 2011, 2012 Allison Roth (HL Outdoor) Discus
- 2011, 2012 Kaitlyn Griffith (HL Outdoor) Hammer Throw
- 2011 Kaitlyn Griffith (HL Outdoor) Shot Put
- 2012 Kaitlyn Griffith (HL Indoor) Weight Throw
- 2011 Bobby Grace (HL Indoor) Shot Put
- 2011 Alexis Hall (HL Indoor) Weight Throw
- 2011, 2012 Kaitlyn Griffith (HL Indoor) Shot Put
- 2012 Danielle Curry (HL Outdoor) Shot Put
- 2010 Aaron Merrill (HL Indoor) Shot Put
Assistant coach Brent Shelby has helped the track and field program maintain its long history of success in the throwing events.
Shelby, who is now in his seventh year with the program, has coached numerous conference champions in his tenure. He also coached 2014 NCAA All-American Bobby Grace in the indoor shot put.
At the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in 2014, Grace finished with third in the shot put. Later in the campaign at the Outdoor NCAA Championships, Grace was 14th in the shot while Conner Neu finished 15th in the hammer throw as both received second-team All-America honors. In total, the program sent four throwers to the NCAA East Prelims in the outdoor season - Neu, Grace, John Seaver and Jessica Parham.
In his six years with the program, YSU has won 36 Horizon League throwing events under Shelby's guidance. The Penguins have now won eight consecutive outdoor men's shot put crowns, seven straight outdoor women's shot put titles, five straight indoor women's shot crowns and five of the last six indoor men's shot put titles.
On 13 occasions, a thrower has competed at the NCAA Outdoor Prelims/Regionals in the past six years, including a high of four in 2014. His first qualifier was Danielle Curry who advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the shot put in 2010.
In 2015, Neu repeated as the conference's weight throw and hammer throw champion while finishing second in the discus. Parham made some YSU and Horizon League history becoming the first YSU athlete to win an outdoor event four times and just the fourth Horizon League athlete to do so. She advanced to the NCAA Regionals for a second consecutive year after a school-best throw of 48.05 meters in the javelin. She had a career-high 27th-place finish at the 2015 regionals.
Newcomer Ryan Booth won the Horizon League outdoor shot put title after finishing second at the indoor league meet. Jennifer Neider won her third consecutive indoor league shot put title and second straight outdoor crown.
The 2014 was a banner year for the YSU throwers. On the Horizon League level, Grace won his third outdoor Horizon League shot put title and his second in indoor. Neu burst on the scene to win the league's hammer throw (outdoor) and weight throw (indoor) titles. Parham won her third Horizon League javelin crown in outdoor. Neider swept the indoor and outdoor shot put events.
On the NCAA level, Grace placed third in the shot put to garner All-America accolades during the indoor campaign. It was the highest individual finish by any NCAA athlete in school history. At the NCAA East Prelims, Neu was fourth in the hammer, Grace qualified seventh in the shot, Seaver was 32nd in the shot while Parham was 34th in the javelin. Neu and Grace became the first YSU track and field men's team members to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
In 2013, Seaver won the indoor and outdoor Horizon League Championships in the shot put. During the outdoor slate, Seaver finished 13th at the NCAA East Preliminary, missing the NCAA meet by one spot. For the women, Alison Roth won the shot put at the outdoor meet while Neider won the event at the indoor championships. Also, Roth was second in the discus.
During the 2012 HL Outdoor Championships, YSU combined to win seven of the eight throwing events - including all four on the women's side. At the 2012 indoor meet, YSU won three of the four throwing events, as Kaitlyn Griffith won twice on the women's side.
At the outdoor meet, Grace was named the Outstanding Field Performer after sweeping the discus, shot and hammer throw. Roth won the shot put and the discus, Kaitlyn Griffith won her second straight hammer throw crown and Parham won her second straight javelin crown.
Grace, Griffith and Roth all advanced to the NCAA East Preliminary Round in the throwing events.
At the indoor meet, Grittith swept throwing events winning the shot put for the second straight year and earning her first crown in the weight throw. Seaver earned his first career victory in the shot put at the indoor conference meet.
In 2010-11, Alexis Hall, Griffith, Grace, Roth, Parham all won Horizon League titles. The five combined to win eight throwing titles at the league indoor and outdoor meets.
During the outdoor championships, Griffith won the shot put as the Guins took first, second and fourth; Roth won the discus as the Penguins were first, third and fourth; Griffith won the hammer throw as YSU took the top two spots and Parham won the javelin. For the ment, Grace won the shot put as the Penguins took five of the top six spots, in the discus YSU was second, fourth and fifth while in the hammer throw the Guins were second and fifth.
Griffith and Grace both advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field East Regional.
During the indoor slate, Hall won the weight throw while Griffith was second. In the shot put, Griffith earned her first career title while YSU also took second and fourth. Grace won the shot put as the Guins took three of the top four spots and in the weight throw, YSU was second, third and fourth.
In his first season with the program in 2009-10, Curry qualified for the Outdoor NCAA Championships in the shot put after advancing through regional qualifying. Curry became the first female track and field athlete in school history to appear at an NCAA Championship.
Curry won the shot put at the Horizon League Outdoor Championship with a throw of 14.17 meters. Also at the outdoor meet, the women had runner-up finishes in the shot put, hammer throw, discus and javelin.
Aaron Merrill was named the Youngstown State Male Athlete of the Year after capping off his career in style. Merrill, who was a second-team Academic All-American, won the shot put at the outdoor championship and also placed second in the hammer throw. At the indoor meet, Merrill won the shot put and was second in the weight throw.
Sam Cassano also helped lead the way for the men at the outdoor meet placing second in the discus.
At the indoor meet, YSU had the first, third, fourth and fifth-place finishers in the shot on the men's side while the women posted second, fourth and fifth-place finishing in the event.
Prior to joining the YSU program, Shelby was a five-year thrower at Kent State and was the throws coach at Pittsburgh for the 2008-09 season.
As an athlete at Kent State, Shelby qualified for NCAA Regionals four times in the discus during the outdoor circuit, as well as qualifying three times in the shot put and once in the hammer.
During his indoor circuits, Shelby was an NCAA provisional qualifier in the shot put in his junior and senior years. He was also the 2004 shot put MAC champion.
Other accolades that Shelby has to his name include the 2003 Mid-American Conference outdoor discus champion, ranking second in Kent State history in the shot put and holding the ninth-best toss in the weight throw.
Shelby graduated from Kent State in 2006.
A 2001 West Lake (Ohio) High School graduate, Shelby competed three years in track and field and was a standout football player.
