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YSU mens, womens track sweeps Horizon League Championship
YSU men, women maintain big lead to sweep Horizon League Championships
YOUNGSTOWN
It didn’t come quite as easily as maybe it looked like it would on paper, but nevertheless, both the Youngstown State men’s and women’s track and field teams won a conference championship at their home field on Sunday.
“We’re going to enjoy this for a long time,” YSU head coach Brian Gorby said.
The YSU women dominated, defeating Oakland 230.5-157, while the men took their title by a score of 216-203 over Oakland.
YSU also took nine of the 12 speciality awards. Collin Harden and Jaliyah Elliot were named Freshmen of the Year in running while Angela Lock was named Freshman of the Year in field. Ryan Booth and Jaynee Corbett won Championship Outstanding Performer awards in field, while Chad Zallow won Championship Outstanding Performer for running. Zallow was also named the Alfreeda Goff Athelte of the Year on the men’s side. Gorby was named both the men’s and women’s Coach of the Year. With the wins, the YSU men completed the triple crown, winning the cross country, indoor and outdoor championships. The YSU women have now won four outdoor conference titles in a row. Gorby has now won 33 conference titles at YSU between cross country, and the two track and field seasons.
“These kids have a legacy [on the men’s side],” Gorby said. “This group of guys a couple of years ago got beat by 80-90 points and then pieced things together for a triple crown. Oakland beat us in cross country last year by one point or it would’ve been two triple crowns.
“But the girls have a dynasty. Four years, four championships.”
Amber Eles won the 100 hurdles (13.71), Elliot won the 100 dash (11.71) and 200 dash (24.30) with Taylor Thompkins second in the 100 (11.88). Taylor McDonald won the 400 hurdles (1:00.91), Nicolette Kreatsoulas won the hammer throw (169 feet, 4 inches) and the 4x100 relay team of McDonald, Iva Domitrovich, Elliot and Keishawnna Burts won as well (3:51.62).
While the final day was mainly a formality for the women, with a near insurmountable lead in the overall standings, things still didn’t go quite as planned for the track events. Two runners tripped over each other on a baton handoff in the 4x100 which disqualified the relay team and Thompkins injured her hamstring reaching for the finish in the 100 and had to be carried off.
“I think I was trying to lean at the line and as soon as I crossed it I had a sharp pain and I didn’t know what it was so I just dropped to the track,” Thompkins said.
Events like the missed handoff and the Thompkins injury showed the importance of what the throws program did by sweeping all of their events and getting multiple track athletes to finals to score multiple points in many events. YSU had four in the finals of the 200.
“You think you have everything planned out and then something happens in the 4x100 where a girl trips the other girl,” Gorby said. “We all trip at some point in our lives it just so happened at the Horizon League Chamionship.”
For the men, Zallow won the 110 hurdles (13.79) in a race that had to go down to the thousandths place to determine a winner. Zallow also won the 100 (10.59) and his brother Carl came in second (10.63).
Harden won the 400 hurdles (52.03) by over two seconds as a freshman over Milwaukee senior Taylor Koss (54.05). The Girard alumnus and state champion was so gassed by the end it took several minutes, and a couple upchucks into the trash can to regain his composure.
“I put everything into every race I do,” Harden said. “I just wanted to get the points for my team so we could pull out the win.”
Harden said he didn’t even want to think about his potential and how much he could dominate the 400 hurdles by his senior year.
“I don’t even want to think that far ahead,” Harden laughed. “I’m just thinking about Utah next week.”
Things got a bit chippy when Aaron Davis won his third-consecutive 200 dash. Oakland athletes began jawing back and forth with Chad Zallow, who finished seventh with cramping after winning the 110 hurdles and the 100.
But even after the 200, the YSU men extended their lead. YSU finished second, third and seventh for 16 points, compared to the 13 points Oakland earned from first and sixth place finishes.
“They were exchanging words so I just said a few back,” Chad Zallow said. “I guess this is the start of a rivalry.”
Brendan Lucas, who finished third for YSU in the 200 said, “They must be Michigan fans.”
But everything was wrapped up when the combination of Ryan Roush and Ryan Sullivan pulled out a third-fourth place finish in the 5,000 meters. Despite Oakland finishing first and second, the gap became too much for the Golden Grizzlies to overcome with only the 4x100 relay remaining. That was good news for YSU, especially since Chad Zallow was scheduled to run in the relay with cramping issues. But the finish allowed the Penguins to use substitutes in the relay to coast to a championship.
“It always seems to come down to the 5k and it’s ‘Are you going to do well or are we going to be sweating it out in the 4x4?” Sullivan said. “With the way the race developed we thought we could go for the win [in the 5k] but it was great to score the points that we did.”
Headed Out West
There’s no rest for the conference champions as both the men’s and women’s teams will be headed out west to compete with Brigham Young University in a duel meet on May 12-13. BYU is paying to bring the Penguins out for the challenge. It will be the final meet for the Penguins before postseason competition.