Men's and Women's Cross Country Head Coach Brian Gorby has led both the men's and women's programs to multiple Horizon League Championships since 2013. The men won titles in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2018 and 2016 while the women claimed consecutive crowns in 2014 and 2013. The programs have ranked consistently in the top three in the league the past 10 years.
Gorby has led the Guins to their strongest seasons in school history the past nine campaigns. The fall of 2025 will mark his 32nd  campaign as the Penguins' Men's and Women's Cross Country Head Coach.
Since joining the Horizon League in 2001, the men have had 40 all-league selections, highlighted by 37 selections since the fall of 2013. In 2016, 2022, 2023 and 2024, the Guins had a school-record five all-league honorees. The women have had 38 All-Horizon League selections, including 32 runners since 2009. The Penguins had an impressive six athletes recognized in 2013.
Since 2013, the men’s program has won five team titles, had four runner-up finishes and two third-place performances. The Penguins had four third-place team efforts from 2001-07. Individually, YSU has had five men’s winners since that time, added four second-place finishers and five other third-place finishers.
Since 2011, the women’s program has two championships, two second-place finishes and two third-place efforts. In program history, Morgan Cole won the championship in 2022 while three Penguins have been runner up (Anna Pompeo in 2013 and 2014), Lisa Davies (2003) and Cole (2023) and three others have finished third, including Cole in 2021.
Gorby was named the Men’s Coach of the Year in 2016, 2018, 2022 and 2024 and the Women’s Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2014.
At the 2024 Horizon League Cross Country meet, the men dominated placing five runners in the top eight finishers. Hunter Christopher repeated as the league champ to lead the way. For the women, McKinley Fielding placed second at the HL meet. At the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, the men's team tied its school record for best team finish by coming in ninth. Christopher led the way finishing 11th. The women had a strong performance placing 20th. Following the season, Christopher was named the Horizon League's Athlete of the Year.
At the Great Lakes Regional in nearby Akron, the men placed ninth finishing in the top 10 for the second consecutive year. Five Penguins placed in the top 58 on the men's side.
In 2023, the men's program won its second consecutive Horizon League title, which marked the first time the Penguins had won back-to-back titles since joining the Horizon League in 2001. Christopher and Ryan Meadows completed a one-two effort by the Penguins, with Christopher clocking a 24:40.17 to win the individual title and Meadows running a 24:13.65 to finish runner-up. Additionally, Thomas Caputo placed eighth, Sage Vavro finished ninth and was named HL Freshman of the Year, and Blaze Fichter was 11th.
At the Great Lakes Regional, the men finished ninth overall to earn the best regional finish in program history and place ahead of all other Ohio teams.
The 2022 season saw the men's program produce one of the top seasons in school history. In winning the team title, they had runners place two-three-four in their incredible victory. Overall, seven Penguins finished in the top 20. Chase Easterling was second, Meadows was third and Christopher finished fourth. Additionally, Tyler Clark was ninth and Ty Coon placed 11th. Â
At the Great Lakes Regionals, Easterling ran a 30:54.0 in the men's 10k to set the program record, surpassing the previous mark by 26 seconds. Led by Easterling's 38th-place finish, the men finished 11th overall which matches the team's best regional finish in program history.
For the women, Cole became the first YSU woman in program history to win the individual Horizon League Cross Country Champion title. She ran a 21:25.5 at the Horizon League Championship to win the league, finishing 30 seconds ahead of the competition. Cole was named the Women's Athlete of the Year, a title no Penguin has earned before, following her many notable performances in 2022. Cole went on to finish runner-up in 2023 at the Horizon League Championships with a impressive time of 20:50.9. Earlier in the season, Cole tied the decade-old 6k program record with a time of 20:41.
In 2021, the men's team finished second for the second straight year while the women's team was third at the Horizon League Championships. For the men, Christopher posted a 25:42 en route to the runner-up individual finish. Cole led the Penguins' effort, placing third individually with a time of 22:35.4 in the race. Later, both programs finished in the top 18 at the NCAA Great Lakes Regionals.
At the 2020 Horizon League Cross Championships, the men's and women's teams posted top-four finishes, including a runner-up effort from the men's program. Sophomore Chase Easterling highlighted the day by earning the Horizon League's automatic individual bid to nationals after winning the league's 8,000m race, clocking a 25:22.0. Easterling would go on to finish with the 200th fastest time in the field in the men's 10,000m race at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, becoming only the second male runner to represent YSU at the NCAA national meet and the first in two decades. Former Penguin Matt Folk qualified in 1998.
In 2019, the men's and women's teams both finished in the top three in the team race. The women were the runner-up and were led by Morgan Cole who named the Horizon League's Freshman of the Year. Cole and Nicole Squatrito were named first-team All-Horizon League. On the men's side, Tyler Polman was named first-team All-Horizon League after placing seventh.
The men's team won the 2018 Horizon League Championship, its second title in three years and placed a program-best 11th in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. The women's squad, which placed fifth at the league meet, won the 2018 Disney World Classic with its top five runners placing in the top 14 of the race.
Senior Ryan Sullivan posted one of the top seasons in school history and was named All-Horizon League First-Team. He finished second in the league meet and broke a 20-year school-record with a time of 24:27.4. The Penguins placed five runners in the top 18 en route to the title. Senior Alan Burns finished third with a time of 25:01.0 while sophomores C.J. Schumacher placed 11th with a time of 25:29.6 and Derek Basinger was 12th with a time of 25:30.2. Senior James Nedrich finished 18th with a time of 25:38.0. Burns was also named All-Horizon League First-Team while Schumacher and Basinger earned second-team all-league honors.
At the 2018 Horizon League Championships, the women's squad turned in four of the top 15 6K times in school history. Squatrito's time of 22:16 was tied for sixth, Maggie Sebest's time of 22:38 was 11th, Jennifer Muhlenkamp's time of 22:40 ranked 12th and Mackenzie Scott's time of 22:42 ranked 15th on the list.
In 2016, the men's team had an impressive performance to earn their first conference title since 1997 and first since the program joined the Horizon League. YSU won the event by 20 points ahead of UIC with Sullivan placing third to lead the way. All of the Guins' top-five runners placed in the top 14. At the HL meet, the women placed fourth led by McKinsie Klim's third-place finish. The men concluded the 2016 campaign with 15th-place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional placing 15th. Sullivan again led the way with a with a 32nd-place finish.Â
In 2015, Austin McLean became the second YSU male runner in a three-year span to win the Horizon League Championship. As a group, the Penguins finished second, just one point behind Oakland in the team standings. McLean and Sullivan were first-team all-conference honorees while Burns and Ethan Wilson were second-team all-league picks.Â
The men were ranked in the regional rankings for the first time in the program's history and won the Disney World Cross Country Classic and the Penn State Open. McLean also set a course record at Akron's Tommy Evans Invitational. YSU ended the year with a 17th-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional.
The 2014 campaign saw the YSU women earn their second consecutive Horizon League Championship beating Milwaukee by 13 points. The men had all seven runners place in the top 25 as McLean capped off an impressive season with a third-place finish. Anna Pompeo placed second for the women at the league meet.
At the 2014 championships, the women had two first-team all-league selections in Pompeo and McKinsie Klim, who placed seventh. YSU's top-five runners all placed in the top 26 to earn the title.
For the year, McLean led the men in all six races and had individual wins at the Duquesne Duals and the Disney Cross Country Classic. He placed a strong 60th at the Great Lakes Regional with a school-record time of 31:29 in the 10K race.
In 2013, on a cool and wet day at Boardman High School in early November, the Guins rode a wave of support to have a banner day.
The women had three runners finish in the top five to win their first-ever Horizon League Championship. The men were led by individual winner Eric Rupe, the first Penguin male ever to win a conference cross country title. Leading the women was Pompeo who was second while Samantha Hamilton was fourth and McKinsie Klim was fifth. Overall, the Penguins had five placers in the top 15 to defeat UIC by 22 points. Brittany Stockmaster was 12th and Libby Rogenski was 13th. Rupe ran a time of 25:41 to take the men's title by nine seconds. McLean was fifth while Gliha placed 12th as the Guins grabbed second place by three points.
To conclude the year, the women finished an impressive 19th at the Great Lakes Regional while the men were 23rd. Pompeo was an impressive 42nd to pace the women while Rupe finished 71st to lead the men.
During the 2013 campaign, Rupe won three events in three different months. He opened the year by becoming the first Penguin to win Akron's Tommy Evans Invitational, then in October, he took first place at the Disney World Cross Country Classic.
The women's program had a strong year from beginning to end. In her first race since 2011, Hamilton won the BGSU Mel Brodt Invitational in September. Hamilton followed up that race with a sixth-place finish in the top race at the Notre Dame Invitational. At the Disney World Classic, Pompeo finished sixth with a time of 17:45.70.
Prior to joining the Horizon League in 2001, the Penguins had their share of success in the Mid-Con under Gorby. The men won cross country championships in 1994, 1995 and 1996 while the women's squad won the league title in 1997.
In 1997, Laura Thomas and Andrea Cohol paced the women to their first conference crown. Thomas became YSU's first individual cross country champion and Cohol finished third as the Penguins won by an impressive 16 points over Southern Utah. YSU had finished as the runners up the previous three years. Gorby was tabbed Coach of the Year in 1997. In 1999, Cohol was the Mid-Con individual champ.
For the men, YSU won the 1994 Mid-Con Cross Country title behind Mark Brady's second-place finish and a sixth-place effort from Donn Craig.Â
Brady placed fifth a year later in 1995 while Craig and Folk finished in the top 10 to lead YSU to its second straight conference crown. In 1996, Folk finished third at the cross country championship meet while Chris Emory and Brady both finished in the top 10 to start the winning trend. YSU was second in 1991 and 1998. Gorby was named Coach of the Year all three times the men won the conference crown.Â
Honors in the Mid-Con for YSU included Jeremy Riehm (Newcomer of the Year in 2000), Brady (Newcomer of the Year in 1994), Thomas (Athlete of the Year in 1997) and Andrea Cohol (Athlete of the Year in 1999). The men had 20 combined all-conference honorees from 1991-2000 while the women had 14 from 1992-2000.
After earning three letters as an athlete from 1987-90, Gorby served as an assistant coach in both cross country and track before being promoted to the helm of the cross country program in August of 1993. He was named head track and field coach in July of the following year.
As a noted distance runner himself, Gorby has competed in several marathons. He has a personal-best time of 2 hours and 26 minutes.
He received his doctorate in educational leadership in 2003 from Youngstown State after earning a bachelor’s degree in education in 1990 and a master’s in physical education in 1994.
Gorby and his wife, Charlotte, reside in Austintown, with their daughter Jersey and son Beau. Jersey and Beau are both YSU graduates Beau recently concluded his career as a member of the cross country and track and field teams.
