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Zallow, deep YSU men’s team win first indoor title since ’03
Zallow leads deep men’s team to 1st indoor title since ’03
By STEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
When freshman Chad Zallow joined Youngstown State this fall, the former Warren JFK standout immediately took notice of the banner inside the WATTS emblazoned with “Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships.”
“It said ‘2003,’” Zallow said, referencing to the last time YSU took the title. “And I was like, ‘That’s gonna change.’ Because we have a really good team with a lot of depth.”
Zallow and the Penguins men did, in fact, change that on Sunday, as YSU finished in first place by 35 points to win the indoor conference championship for the first time in 13 years.
“This has been a long time coming for these guys,” YSU coach Brian Gorby said. “It was a complete team effort. We knew we had a good shot to do it, but as we saw on the women’s side, nothing is for granted.”
The YSU women entered looking for its third straight HL indoor meet championship. However, due to two key unfinished races, the Penguins placed second behind Oakland, losing to the Grizzlies by just four points.
Jen Shiley (400-meter run) and Amber Eles (60 hurdles) were expected to place in the top of their respective races. But each failed to finish, as Shiley suffered from exhaustion and collapsed during the stretch run, while Eles (sophomore) tripped over a hurdle.
“Heartbreaking — that’s the main word that comes to mind right now,” said YSU senior Nina Grambling, who won the 60 and 200 dashes and the Individual Scoring Award. “It’s heartbreaking because I know everybody went out and gave it their all. I know Jen went down because she gave it her all and when Amber went down too — my heart broke for them seeing that happen.”
Meanwhile, everything went smoothly for the men.
The freshman phenom Zallow placed first in the 60 hurdles with a time of 7.84 seconds (he ran a 7.69 earlier this month, good for second in the nation). He also won the 60 dash with a 6.81 seconds, as the mark tied a conference record and dethroned last year’s champ, brother Carl Zallow (sophomore), who placed fourth.
“In the [60 hurdles] preliminaries, my biggest thing was trying to get the Horizon League record to take some pressure off me in the finals — just so I could focus more on the 60 dash,” said Zallow, who was named Freshman of the Year and notched a 7.75 in the 60 hurdles on Saturday. “So I didn’t go as crazy in the finals [in the 60 hurdles].”
“But I knew the dash was gonna be a loaded field, so I was really looking forward to that.”
Other top finishers for the men’s team were: Mineral Ridge grad Ryan Booth (first in shot put), Connor Neu (first in weight throw), Tyree Ballenger (second in long jump), Dylan Latone (second in pole vault), Arnoldo Morales (second in high jump) and Austin McLean (second in one-mile run).
“Every event, we picked up 15-20 points,” Gorby said. “No other team can do that across the conference. But that’s a credit to our coaching staff. We’ve recruited probably one of the top 15-20 men’s teams in the country — and the great part about it is they’re all freshmen and sophomores pretty much.”
The YSU women placed first in the day’s final event — a Penguins 4x400 relay team of Taylor McDonald, Grambling, Jayme Ritchie and Keishawnna Burts. But Oakland placed fourth, which was enough to maintain its lead overall.
Other top YSU women finishers were: Chaney grad Shatasia Walker (first in 60 hurdles), Savannah Osborne (first in long jump), Chontel Fils (first in triple jump and named Field Freshman of the Year) and Abby Jones (second in high jump). Also, Jayne Corbett won the shot put (meet-record 15.44 meters) and weight throw titles and was named Most Outstanding Field Performer.
Still, it was a bitter end result for the Penguins women.
“Never in my 26 years of doing this have I seen back-to-back races of people going down like that,” Gorby said.