Home-field edge: YSU hosts Horizon event at WATTS

By Charles Grove | February 25, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

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Youngstown State will look to win the Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend at the Watson and Tressel Training Site.

The men are looking to defend their title from last year, which they ran away with a score of 197-132 over Milwaukee. The women lost by four points to Oakland a year ago.

YSU is expected to be in the championship mix again this year. Oakland’s men and Milwaukee’s women are the teams head coach Brian Gorby said should present the biggest challenge to his Penguins.

Gorby said it should be a close competition on both sides.

“Oakland threw eight seniors at us this year,” Gorby said. “They could’ve red-shirted some but they wanted to make a push for us this year. They’re making this they’re year.”

The sprint programs are the backbone of the men’s team. Chad and his brother Carl Zallow, both Warren JFK graduates, are expected to fly right by in the 60 dash while Chad has been putting up historic times in the 60 hurdles this season.

“The real strength of our program right now is the sprint program,” Gorby said. “They’re really exciting to watch.”

Also in short-distance events are freshmen Brendan Lucas (Boardman) and Collin Harden (Girard). Both are in the 400 dash where Lucas has the second-best seed time while Harden is third. Harden has shaved a full two seconds off his time this year according to Gorby.

“Without having recruits like Collin and Brendan we wouldn’t even be in the conversation for the championship,” Gorby said. “They’ve developed so quick. There’s no real learning curve here. Basically it’s, ‘We need you in and we need you to score.’”

In the field, Arnaldo Morales (Struthers) is the favorite in the high jump while Ryan Booth (Mineral Ridge) is the favorite in the shot put.

“Arnaldo is a senior who’s helped us win many a championship,” Gorby said. “We moved back and forth on red-shirting him but we had to have him go because it’s going to be so close.”

Booth is aiming to set a mark strong enough to make nationals.

“I’ve been flirting with marks in practice and at meets,” Booth said. “Now it’s just a matter of doing it in a meet and there’s no better meet to do it at than this one.”

Chenera Lacey has the best pentathlon point total entering the weekend. That elusive title is what she’s aiming for individually.

“This year I think I can get [the pentathlon] and the school record,” Lacey said. “I’ve only finished once when I came in third. Before that I was leading going into the long jump but got injured and had to pull out.”

Lacey said the key for taking the title the women just missed last year is focusing on improvement.

“If we’re ranked fourth in an event we want to get third,” Lacey said. “If we’re not ranked in an event we want to get ranked.”

This will be the sixth year in a row that YSU has hosted the indoor championship. Both Gorby and his athletes said it’s a big advantage being able to stay home for such a meaningful meet.

“We’ve got a home-court advantage here,” Lacey said. “We know our facilities well. We know our high-jump mats, we know our pits. Not having to travel or adapt to a new place is really good.”