Friday, February 27, 2015
Penguins looking
to upset Milwaukee
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
At the end of Monday’s practice, as Youngstown State senior Eric Rupe rolled out the kinks in his thigh muscles, he spotted teammate Austin McLean about 30 feet away, doing the type of ab exercises that make P90X look fun.
“It’s those little things that gain an edge on everybody else,” Rupe said. “Everybody is doing runs and workouts right now, but not everyone is doing the little things he does now.”
So they don’t do it to impress women?
“Well, it’s more for that,” Rupe said. “It happens to help our running, too.”
Over the past two years, McLean and Rupe have emerged as such talented — and consistent — distance runners that assistant coach David Townsend nicknamed them “The Franchise Boys.”
“Pretty much they have been the franchise the past two years,” head coach Brian Gorby said.
That needs to continue at this weekend’s Horizon League indoor track and field meet at YSU’s WATTS. Like most years, the Penguins (and the rest of the league) are looking up at Milwaukee, which has won nine of the last 10 indoor titles, including last year’s. The Panthers had also won 10 straight outdoor titles until YSU broke through last May thanks to a gutsy 1-2 finish from Rupe and McLean in the meet’s second-to-last event, the 5K.
“I think if everything went according to a dream, we could get it,” McLean said of this year’s indoor title. “You just have to remember that it doesn’t matter what they ran in high school, it doesn’t matter what they ran last week, it just matters that you come out and win this time.
“If everyone thinks that, we have an outside chance.”
Rupe won the 3K and the 5K at last year’s Horizon indoor championships and will again compete in those events. McLean will run the mile (he ran the second-fastest mile in school history last weekend), 3K (he has the league’s fastest time this year by three seconds) and the 5K.
While YSU graduated powerhouse thrower Bobby Grace, it returns defending weight throw champion Connor Neu, who should repeat this weekend.
Other Penguins in the hunt for league titles include Warren JFK High graduate Carl Zallow, a freshman who has the league’s second-fastest time in the 60 meters and the 200; Struthers High graduate Arnaldo Morales, who broke the school’s high jump record earlier this year; and Mineral Ridge High graduate Jacob Chiclowe, who is seeded second in the shot put.
“We’re exactly where we want to be,” Rupe said. “We go in as underdogs and if something does happen, it’ll be a good story.
“Kind of like outdoors.”