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YSU’s WATTS hosting huge invitational today
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown State track and field teams are hosting 42 teams today at the Watson and Tressel Training Site today in the YSU College Invitational, an event that really begins the track and field season for the Penguins.
Running events start at 1 p.m. while field events begin at 2:30 p.m. YSU head coach Brian Gorby said the event will likely go until about 10 p.m.
The Penguins are coming off a small meet at Kent State on Jan. 14 that Gorby said he hopes was a tune up for the first real test of the indoor season.
“It was so quiet and low energy but today will be high energy,” Gorby said.
The heat sheets were maxed out with competitors within two days the demand for the event was so high. Expectations are mixed depending on who you ask.
“If you’re trying to get to the NCAAs you look at big meets as your opportunity,” 2016 Boardman alumnus Brendon Lucas said. “If you’re looking for performances to get to NCAAs you almost have to win these meets.
“I’m going in thinking I’m that dude even though I’m only a freshman, that’s just the mentality you have to have.”
In order to get there, Lucas has said he’s had to change his race style now that he’s out of high school. No longer can he afford to coast at any part of a race.
“Kids come out now and they’re just blazing,” Lucas said. “You can’t come out and trail at all or you’ll be left in the dust. When you try to catch up, they’ll be finding their other gear and leave you behind.”
Chad Zallow, a 2015 Warren JFK graduate, said he’s looking at this meet as an opportunity to put down a time worthy for nationals. Last year Zallow finished ninth in the 60 hurdles nationally and missed qualifying for the finals by less than a tenth of a second. Zallow is currently ranked second nationally in the 60 hurdles, only behind Florida’s Grant Holloway.
“I want to lock in for nationals,” Zallow said. “I want to put out a fast time and not have to worry about it the rest of the year.”
For Gorby, this is a meet to try to figure out his team. YSU athletes will be competing against one another for spots on the travel team because not everyone on the massive roster can go on road trips.
“Some teams want to open up the year hot and get good team scores, but for us this meet is an opportunity to find out about our 92 kids,” Gorby said. “We can take about 30-40 of them on the road.”
Both the men and women have a ton of local talent. In addition to Zallow and Lucas, 16 other athletes come from area schools on the men’s side while 16 total female athletes hail from the area.
Zallow said the ability to team up with all the standout, local talent makes competing with the team even more fun.
“I ran so many races against these guys throughout my high school career,” Zallow said. “It’s just good to have them on the same team instead of competing with them.”
While the local athletes obviously draw much of the attention from the area, Gorby is equally excited about a lot of the talent he’s been able to recruit in, including Anthony Butler, a jumper from New York, and Tim Holzapfel, a multi-event athlete from Germany.
“Tim runs the hurdles not far off of Chad, he pole vaults 14 feet and does the long jump at 23 feet,” Gorby said. “Anthony is able to jump 23-24 feet as well. We’ve got a strong powerful group of guys that we’re excited to get into the mix.”