Penniman's Horizon League Champions
Rick Penniman, a former Youngstown State standout multi-events athlete, has steadily guided YSU's pole vault program among the nation's best during his tenure as an assistant coach.
Since 2021, he has taken the Penguins' program to new heights with multiple NCAA East Preliminary Round qualifiers and an impressive run of Horizon League championships. Overall, his vaulters have won 28 conference championships, while an additional 27 have earned runner-up finishes. The Guins have won 18 of the last 20 combined Horizon League pole vault titles.
In 2025, Melana Schumaker won the women's Horizon League Indoor Championship while Ainsley Hamsher captured the outdoor crown. At the Horizon League Outdoor Championships, YSU swept the top three spots on the podium. Hamsher advanced to the NCAA East Preliminary Round for the first time in her career. Sophomore Lukas Lang continued YSU's success on the men's side by winning both the indoor and outdoor Horizon League titles.
In 2024, four Guins advanced to the NCAA East Preliminary Round. For the men, Blake Sifferlin and Dorian Chaigneau finished among the top 20 competitors. For the women, Erin Bogard placed 18th while Schumaker finished 28th in her NCAA debut.
At the Horizon League Outdoor Championships, the women dominated by finishing 1-2-3-4-5, with Schumaker winning her first outdoor title. The men placed 1-2-3-5-6, led by Chaigneau's first Horizon League championship. At the Horizon League Indoor Championships, the women again swept the top five spots, while Schumaker collected her first indoor title. The men finished 1-2-3-4, with Sifferlin earning his first indoor crown. Bogard added to her decorated career by setting the school outdoor record at 4.30 meters at the Miami Hurricanes Alumni Invitational.
In 2023, Chaigneau earned second-team All-America honors during both the indoor and outdoor seasons, Wyatt Lefker garnered second-team indoor All-America recognition and Bogard earned honorable mention outdoor All-America honors. At the NCAA Indoor Championships, Chaigneau placed ninth before finishing 12th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Competing in his first NCAA Indoor Championships, Lefker placed 15th, while Bogard finished 19th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The 2023 campaign saw both the men's and women's school records broken, four All-America honors earned and three Horizon League championships claimed.
At the Horizon League Indoor Championships, Lefker won his first career title while Chaigneau placed third and newcomer Sifferlin finished fourth. During the season, Lefker and Chaigneau both cleared a school record 5.51 meters on the same day to qualify for the NCAA Championships. On the women's side, Schumaker and Emma Etzwiler shared runner-up honors.
At the Horizon League Outdoor Championships, the Guins were dominant. Lefker won his fourth consecutive outdoor title while Chaigneau placed second and Sifferlin finished third. On the women's side, Bogard captured her third consecutive outdoor championship, while YSU also finished third and had a pair of athletes tie for fourth. Lefker established a school record of 5.51 meters in April, and Bogard set a school record of 4.20 meters in May.
At the NCAA East Preliminary Round, Chaigneau cleared 5.40 meters to finish tied for fourth while Bogard's mark of 4.12 meters tied her for 11th, allowing both athletes to advance to the NCAA Championships. Lefker cleared 5.30 meters but finished 14th.
Starting in 2022, the program showed it was ready to take off. YSU swept the men's and women's Horizon League Outdoor Championships and set school records on both sides.
At the Horizon League Outdoor Championships, Lefker recorded a school- and conference-record clearance of 5.25 meters. Bogard set her own school record at 4.05 meters to claim the title. It was her second consecutive outdoor league championship and Lefker's third career Horizon League title. On the women's side, YSU finished 1-2-4-5, while the men claimed the top two spots on the podium.
Both athletes advanced to the NCAA East Preliminary Round, where Lefker cleared a school-record 5.29 meters to finish third and become the first pole vaulter in school history to qualify for the NCAA Championships. He went on to place 22nd in Eugene, Ore., earning honorable mention All-America honors.
At the Horizon League Indoor Championships, Lefker was sidelined, but YSU's winning tradition continued as freshman Eli Nelson cleared 4.90 meters to capture the title. Bogard and Katlyn Griffie tied for second, while Sydney Walker finished fourth.
During the 2021 indoor season, Lefker won his second consecutive Horizon League title with a clearance of 4.60 meters at the Horizon League Indoor Championships. He became just the second Penguin to win back-to-back league championships in the event. Bogard set Horizon League and school indoor records in the women's pole vault with a clearance of 4.00 meters, bringing the event title back to Youngstown for the first time since 2018. The previous record of 3.81 meters had been set in 2019. Bogard was named the Women's Outstanding Field Performer at the Horizon League Indoor Championships.
During the outdoor season, Lefker extended YSU's streak of success by clearing 4.87 meters on his final attempt to earn the event title. He later finished 23rd among 48 competitors in the men's pole vault at the NCAA East Preliminary Round. Bogard cleared 4.01 meters to break her own school record and establish a new facility record en route to the event title. She earned YSU's first women's pole vault victory since 2015 and just the second in program history. Bogard also became the first women's pole vaulter in school history to advance to the NCAA East Preliminary Round.
In 2020, despite the loss of two-time indoor champion Dylan Latone, Penniman helped the Penguins maintain their position atop the Horizon League. On the men's side, Lefker captured the indoor title with a clearance of 4.80 meters, while Blaine Brokschmidt closed the campaign with a runner-up finish.
Lefker initially broke the school record with a clearance of 4.85 meters at the season-opening YSU Icebreaker. The mark was later surpassed by Brokschmidt, who cleared 4.92 meters on Feb. 15 at the Kent State Doug Raymond National Qualifier.
In 2019, the men swept the Horizon League indoor and outdoor pole vault titles. At the Horizon League Indoor Championships, Latone won his second consecutive title, Jett Murphy finished second and Macklin Rose placed third.
During the outdoor season, Lefker captured the title at the WATTS, Latone was runner-up and Rose finished third. Lefker set the school record on May 10 with a clearance of 5.01 meters at the Harrison Dillard Twilight before advancing to the NCAA East Preliminary Round.
For the women, four of the top eight finishers at the Horizon League Indoor Championships were Penguins, led by Shelby Marken's fourth-place finish. At the Horizon League Outdoor Championships, Marken was runner-up and broke the school record with a clearance of 3.75 meters. Caitlyn Trebella and Griffie tied for fourth, while Denise Machamer placed eighth.
In 2018, Latone swept the Horizon League indoor and outdoor titles. He cleared 4.45 meters to win the indoor championship and 4.71 meters to claim the outdoor crown. At the indoor meet, the men finished first, second and fourth. On the women's side, five of the top seven finishers were Penguins, led by Trebella. At the outdoor meet, the women finished third, fourth and fifth, while Latone won the men's title and Brock Wooten placed third.
The Penguins' men's and women's teams swept the Horizon League indoor and outdoor championships in 2017. The women repeated as indoor and outdoor champions in 2018, while the men captured the outdoor title for the first time in 11 years. Latone won the outdoor pole vault title at the WATTS with a clearance of 4.80 meters. For the women, Sarina Mauerman and Trebella finished third and fourth. Indoors, the women placed fourth through seventh, while the men had fourth- and fifth-place finishers.
In 2016, Latone finished second at both the Horizon League Indoor and Outdoor Championships. During the outdoor season, Mauerman and Trebella each cleared a then-school-record height of 3.57 meters. The Penguins' men won both the indoor and outdoor conference championships, while the women captured the outdoor title after finishing second indoors.
The Penguins also produced conference champions on the women's side in the previous two seasons. In 2015, Hannah Ropp closed her career with her first Horizon League title during the outdoor season. The year before, Nicole Waibel won the program's first pole vault championship in eight years during the indoor season.
Ropp, who placed third indoors and had previously finished second in 2013, won the Horizon League Outdoor Championship with a clearance of 3.50 meters. The mark established a school record and surpassed a standard that had stood since 2008. As a team, the YSU women won both the indoor and outdoor championships for the second consecutive year, while the men finished second at both meets.
Also placing in the top five in 2015 were Mauerman (fourth indoors and outdoors) and Garrett Mathias (third outdoors and fifth indoors).
In 2014, Waibel captured the Horizon League Indoor Championship and was named the Horizon League Field Freshman of the Year. During the season, she established a school record with a clearance of 3.89 meters. As a team, the YSU women won both the indoor and outdoor championships, while the men claimed their first Horizon League Outdoor Championship.
In 2013, Mathias finished third at the Horizon League Outdoor Championships and fourth indoors. Ropp led the women with a runner-up finish at the indoor championships and set the indoor school record with a clearance of 3.50 meters.
Ligore, Ropp and Brianna Wise each recorded career-best indoor marks during the 2013 season, clearing at least 3.20 meters. During the outdoor season, Ropp established the school record with a clearance of 3.50 meters at the Raleigh Relays, while Ligore posted a career-best clearance at the Horizon League Championships.
During the 2012 season, Johnny Copley established school records during both the indoor and outdoor campaigns. He cleared 4.80 meters indoors and 4.77 meters outdoors. Copley placed second at the Horizon League Indoor Championships and third at the outdoor meet after earning two career runner-up finishes at the conference championships.
In 2011, Copley placed third at the Horizon League Outdoor Championships and fifth indoors.
In 2010, Stephanie Jarvis finished fifth in the pole vault at the Horizon League Indoor Championships, and YSU had two women place among the top seven at the outdoor meet.
During the 2009 season, Penniman coached a runner-up finisher at both the indoor and outdoor conference championships. Copley placed second outdoors, while Jarvis earned runner-up honors indoors.
Jarvis later finished fourth at the Horizon League Outdoor Championships, while fellow vaulter Amanda Carpin placed third at the indoor championships and sixth outdoors.
Copley also established a new school record during the season, surpassing the previous mark set by Derek Riker in 2006.
During the 2007-08 season, Copley placed fourth at both the Horizon League Indoor and Outdoor Championships, while Jarvis finished third with a school-record clearance at the conference meet.
Carpin finished fourth at the Horizon League Indoor Championships, and Darla Wilson also recorded a personal-best clearance while placing fourth.
In 2006, Jarvis set the school record during the outdoor season with a clearance at the Horizon League Championships that earned second-team all-league honors.
Riker became Penniman's first conference champion when he won the pole vault during the 2004 indoor season and repeated the feat at the 2006 Horizon League Outdoor Championships.
Penniman spent his first three seasons as the hurdles and jumpers coach. During that span, Kelly Leonard won the Horizon League indoor hurdles title in 2002, and Laura Schatz captured the high jump championship. Leonard repeated during the outdoor season and also won the 100-meter hurdles.
As a student-athlete, Penniman was a member of YSU's first Mid-Continent Conference championship team in 1997. He ranks seventh in school history in the outdoor pole vault and fourth all-time in the decathlon.
Penniman graduated from Youngstown State in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in speech communication. He received his USATF Level I coaching certification in April 2005.
Penniman works for Bank of America in Beachwood and resides in Broadview Heights.
He and his wife, Wendy, have a son, Beau, and a daughter, Molly.
