Penniman's Horizon League Champions
Rick Penniman, a former Youngstown State standout multi-events athlete, has steadily moved YSU's pole vaulting program toward the top of the country in his tenure as an assistant coach.
Since 2021, he has taken the Penguins program to new heights with multiple NCAA regional participants and an impressive run of Horizon League Championships. Overall, his vaulters have won 28 conference championships while an additional 27 times they have been a conference runner up. The Guins have won 18 of the last 20 combined vaulting titles.
In 2025, Melana Schumaker won the women's Horizon League indoor title while Ainsley Hamsher won the outdoor league crown. At the HL outdoor meet, YSU took the top three spots on the podium. Hamsher advanced to the NCAA East Prelims for the first time in her career. Sophomore Lukas Lang continued YSU's run of success on the men's side winning both the HL indoor and outdoor crowns.
In 2024, four Guins advanced to the NCAA East Prelims during the outdoor campaign. For the men, Blake Sifferlin and Dorian Chaigneau finished in the top 20. For the women, Erin Bogard was 18th while Schumaker placed 28th in her NCAA debut.
On the Horizon League level, the Penguins continued to dominate. At the outdoor league meet, the women finished first through fifth as Schumaker won her first outdoor title. The men took the top three spots and added a fifth and sixth place finish as Chaigneau won his first HL title. At the indoor league meet, the women took the top five spots again at the meet as Schumaker collected her first-ever HL indoor title. The men took spots 1-4 with Sifferlin claiming his first indoor crown. Bogard added to her impressive career with an outdoor school record of 4.30m at the Miami Hurricanes Alumni Invitational.
In 2023, Chaigneau claimed second-team NCAA Indoor and Outdoor All-America honors, Wyatt Lefker earned second-team Indoor All-America accolades while Bogard earned honorable-mention Outdoor All-America recognition. At the NCAA Indoor meet, Chaigneau was ninth and later finished 12th at the outdoor meet. At his first-ever NCAA indoor meet, Lefker placed 15th while Bogard had a solid 19th-place effort at the outdoor meet.
The 2023 campaign saw both the men's and women's records eclipsed, earned four All-America honors and claimed three Horizon League Championships.
At the indoor Horizon League championships, Lefker won his first career title while Chaigneau was third and newcomer Blake Sifferlin was fourth. During the year, both Lefker and Chaigneau cleared 5.51m, a school record, on the same day to move onto the NCAA meet. For the women, Schumaker and Emma Etzwiler shared second-place honors.
At the Outdoor Horizon League Championships, the Guins were dominate. Lefker won his fourth consecutive outdoor title while Chaigneau was second and Sifferlin third. On the women's side, Bogard won for the third straight time the Guins also finished third and had a pair tie for fourth. Lefker set a new school record of 5.51m in early April and Bogard set a new women's mark of 4.20m in early May.
At the NCAA East Prelims, Chaigneau cleared 5.40m to finish tied for fourth while Bogard's mark of 4.12m tied her for 11th place as both athletes advanced to the NCAA meet. Lefker cleared 5.30m, but finished in 14th position.
Starting in the spring of 2022, the program showed it was getting ready to take off. YSU swept the men's and women's outdoor belts and set school records in each campaign.
At the outdoor championships, Lefker recorded a school and conference-record mark of 5.25m at the Horizon League meet. Bogard set her own school mark of 4.05m to take the title. It was her second straight outdoor league title and third title in the career of Lefker. On the women's side, YSU placed first, second, fourth and fifth. The men earned the top two spots on the podium.
Both advanced to the NCAA East Prelims where Lefker cleared a new-school-best 5.29m to finish third and become the first pole vaulter in school history to advance to the NCAA Championships. He finished 22nd at Eugene, Oregon, claiming honorable-mention All-America status.
At the indoor championships, Lefker was sidelined, but the victory beat went on as freshman Eli Nelson busted out a mark of 4.90m to take the crown. Bogard and Katlyn Griffie tied for second place while Sydney Walker was fourth.
During the 2021 indoor slate, Lefker won his second consecutive pole vault title, clearing 4.60m at the Horizon League Indoor Championships. Lefker becomes the second Penguin to win back-to-back Horizon League titles in the event. Bogard set a new indoor Horizon League and school-record in the women's pole vault, clearing 4.00m and bringing the event title back to Youngstown for the first time since 2018. The previous record was 3.81m, set in 2019. Bogard was named Women's Championship Outstanding Field Performer at the HL Indoor meet.
On the outdoor circuit, Lefker extended YSU's victory run after he cleared 4.87m on his final attempt to earn the event victory. He later finished 23rd out of 48 entries in the men's pole vault competition at the NCAA East Preliminaries. Bogard cleared 4.01m in the pole vault to not only uplift her previous school record, but also set a new facility record in the process en route to an event title. Bogard claimed YSU's first event victory since 2015 and just the second in school history. Bogard became the first women's pole vaulter in school history to advance to the NCAA Regionals.
In 2020, despite losing two-time indoor champion Dylan Latone, Penniman helped the Penguins maintain their presence atop of the Horizon League. On the men's side, Lefker captured the indoor title after clearing the bar at 4.80m and Blaine Brokschmidt closed out an campaign with a runner-up finish.
Lefker initially broke the school record with a height of 4.85m at the season-opening YSU Icebreaker but the program record was ultimately broken by Brokschmidt on Feb. 15 when he cleared the bar at 4.92m at the Kent State Doug Raymond National Qualifier.
In 2019, the men had an excellent year sweeping both the indoor and outdoor Horizon League titles. At the indoor league championship, Latone captured his second consecutive title while Jett Murphy was the runner-up and Macklin Rose finished third.
During the outdoor season, Lefker secured the title (which was held at the WATTS), Latone finished second and Rose took third again. Lefker set the school record in the pole vault on May 10 when he cleared the bar at 5.01m at the Harrison Dillard Twilight. Lefker went on to qualify for the NCAA East Preliminary Round.
For the women, four of the top eight finishers at the indoor league meet were Penguins as Shelby Marken lead the way with a fourth place finish. At the outdoor meet, Marken finished as the runner-up while also breaking the school record after clearing the bar 3.75m. Trebella and Griffie finished in a tie for fourth while Denise Machamer was eighth.
In 2018, Latone had a tremendous year sweeping the indoor and outdoor events. At the Indoor meet he cleared the bar at 4.45m and outdoors had a height of 4.71m. At the indoor meet, the men placed first, second and fourth. For the women, five of the top seven finishers were Penguins as Trebella led the way. At the outdoor meet, the women were third, fourth and fifth. At the outdoor meet, Latone was first followed by Brock Wooten who was third.
The Penguins' men's and women's teams swept the championships in 2017 winning both the indoor and outdoor meets. In 2018, the women won the indoor and outdoor crowns once again while the men were in indoor champion. It was the men's first outdoor victory in 11 years. Latone won the outdoor title (which was held at the WATTS) clearing the bar at 4.80m. For the women, Sarina Mauerman and Caitlyn Trebella were third and fourth. Indoors the women placed fourth through seventh while the men had the fourth and fifth-place finishers.
In 2016, Latone finished second in the event at both the indoor and outdoor conference championships. At the outdoor event, Mauerman and Trebella each cleared a then-school-best height of 3.57m. The Penguins's men's program won both the indoor and outdoor conference championships in 2016 while the women took first in the outdoor meet after a runner-up finish indoors.
The Penguins had a conference champion in the two previous years on the women's side. In 2015, Hannah Ropp ended her career with her first league title during the outdoor slate. The year prior, Nicole Waibel won the program's first pole vault title in eight years during the indoor season.
Ropp, who was third in the indoor season and had a previous-best second-place finish in 2013, won the outdoor Horizon League title clearing the bar at 3.50 meters. That mark set a then YSU school record eclipsing a mark that had stood since 2008. As a team the YSU women won both the indoor and outdoor league titles for the second straight year while the men placed second in both.
Also placing in the top five in 2015 were Mauerman (fourth in outdoor and indoor) and Garrett Mathias (third in outdoor and fifth indoors).
In 2014, Waibel took home the indoor Horizon League pole vault crown. She was named the HL Field Freshman of the Year for her efforts. During the year she set a school record in the event with clearing a height of 3.89 meters. As a team, the YSU women won both the indoor and outdoor crowns while the men claimed their first-ever Horizon League Outdoor title.
In 2013, Garrett Mathias was third at the Outdoor Horizon League Championships and fourth at the indoor meet. Ropp led the way for the women at the indoor championships with a second-place finish. She set the indoor school mark clearing the bar at 3.50 meters at the league meet.
Ligore, Ropp and Brianna Wise all had career-best indoor marks during the 2013 slate, clearing at least 3.20 meters (10 feet, six inches). In the outdoor campaign, Ropp set the school record of 3.50m (11-5 3/4) at the Raleigh Relays and Ligore cleared a career-best 10-10 at the Horizon League Championships.
During the 2012 slate, Johnny Copley set school marks in the event during both the indoor and outdoor campaigns. Copley eclipsed 4.77 meters during the outdoor slate and cleared a height of 4.80 meters during the indoor campaign. Copley was second at the indoor league meet while finishing third at the outdoor championships. He had two second-place finishes at the league meet during his career.
In 2011, Copley was third at the outdoor Horizon League Championships and finished fifth during the indoor meet.
In 2010, Stephanie Jarvis was fifth in the pole vault at the indoor league meet and YSU had two women finish in the top seven of the event in the outdoor event.
During the 2009 season, Penniman coached a runner-up in the outdoor championships and a second-place finisher at the indoor meet. Copley was a second-place performer at the Horizon League Outdoor Championships while Jarvis finished second at the indoor league meet.
Jarvis ended the season with a fourth-place finish at the outdoor HL Championships while fellow vaulter Amanda Carpin improved her previous best marks by placing third at the Indoor Championships and sixth at the league's Outdoor Championships.
Copley established a new school record during the year breaking the old mark set by Derek Riker in 2006.
The 2007-08 season, Copley took fourth at both the Horizon League Indoor and Outdoor Championships while Jarvis went on to finish third in the pole vault with a school-record mark of 11-1 3/4 at the Horizon League Championships.
Carpin finished fourth at the Horizon League Indoor Meet, while Darla Wilson also recorded a personal-best mark at the Horizon League Indoor Championships, finishing fourth.
In 2006, Jarvis set the school record during the outdoor season with a height of 11-1 1/2 at the Horizon League Championships to earn second-team all-league honors.
In addition, Riker became Penniman's first conference champion when he won the pole vault during the 2004 indoor season and repeated the accomplishment 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 was the high jump champion. Leonard repeated in the outdoor season and won the 100m hurdles.
As a student-athlete, Penniman was a member of YSU's first Mid-Continent Conference Championship team in 1997. He ranks seventh in YSU history in the pole vault (outdoor) and fourth all-time in the decathlon.
Penniman graduated from YSU in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in Speech Communications. He received his USATF Level One coaching certification in April of 2005.
He is also employed at Bank of America in Beachwood and resides in Broadview Heights.
He and his wife, Wendy, have a son, Beau, and a daughter, Molly.
