TRACK AND FIELD YSU women capture Horizon League title

The Penguins also won the Horizon League Indoor Championship in February.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Danielle Bolt won the 100-meter dash, Aaliyah Gillespie won the 100 hurdles and the Youngstown State women's track team got a lift from two winning relay teams, en route to capturing the Horizon League outdoor championship Friday at Michael A. Carroll Track and Field Stadium.
Head Coach Brian Gorby won Women's Coach of the Year as the Penguins won their first outdoor title since 1997.
YSU also won the 2004 Horizon League Indoor Championship in February.
"This is the most gratifying one we've won," Gorby said. "We fought through so many things that went wrong all year and we pulled it out."
Set league record
Bolt set the conference record in the preliminary round of the 100 with a time of 12.04 seconds, and posted a time of 12.39 in the finals.
Gillespie also set a Horizon League record in the prelims with a time of 14.36, and turned in a time of 14.71 in the finals to win the 100 hurdles.
The 4x400 relay group of Jeanna Cunningham, Leslie Johnson, Gillespie and Bolt also broke a Horizon League record with a first-place time of 3:48.17, setting YSU's all-time record in the 4x100-meter. They were just .01 seconds shy of the conference record.
Bolt added a third-place finish in the 200 with a time of 24.82.
Cunningham also stepped up in the sprints as she posted second-place finishes in the 100 (12.55) and the 200 (24.69). Johnson added a third-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.20.
Other standout runners
Emily Schnitkey paced the Penguins in the distance events, placing second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:04.38 while adding a third-place finish in the 1,500-meters with a school-record time of 4:37.81. She was fifth in the 5,000-meters (17:50.51).
Lindsay Wojciak placed fifth in the steeplechase with a time of 11:29.78 and ninth in the 5,000 while Andrea Bardy finished seventh in the steeplechase (11:56.41). Lisa Davies recorded an eighth-place finish in the 10,000-meters in 39:46.13.
Cassandra Smith had a strong showing in the hurdles with a sixth-place finish in the 100 hurdles (15.76) and a seventh-place spot in the 400 hurdles (1:08.50). Alex Casi added a sixth-place finish in the 400 hurdles in 1:06.74.
Field-event standouts
Laura Schatz led the way in the field events as she tied her own school record in the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 53/4 inches, and added a third-place finish in the javelin with a throw of 104-5. Casi placed second in the long jump with a leap of 17-61/4 while Nikki Hooper placed eighth in the triple jump (32-51/2). Larissa Papch added a fifth-place finish in the high jump with a mark of 4-113/4.
Katy Williams headed the throwers with a second-place finish in the discus with a throw of 139-3 and a fifth-place throw of 141-6 in the hammer. Amy Hill placed third in the discus (137-6), seventh in the hammer (136-3) and tied for seventh-place with sister Lindsey Hill in the shot put (38-101/2). Kim Lammers finished fifth in the shot put with a heave of 40-23/4 and 10th in the hammer while Lauren Girdler placed sixth in the hammer (136-8).
Beat UW-Milwaukee
The Penguins finished with 131 points to edge out the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's 113 points. Detroit came in third with 112 points while Butler, Loyola, Illinois-Chicago and Wright State rounded out the remaining four.
YSU was fourth-place entering the day, trailing Butler by 11 points, Detroit by 10 and Loyola by five. UWM was fifth with 22 points after the opening session.
Cunningham, Bolt, Gillespie and Johnson received automatic bids to compete in the NCAA Mideast Regionals held May 28-29 in Baton Rouge, La. for their wins in the relays.