SIMPLY THE BEST

By BRIAN DZENIS

bdzenis@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Brian Gorby had to ask for one more favor from Ryan Sullivan and Alan Burns.

The Youngstown State track and field head coach already had asked and received a huge favor from the distance-running pair in red-shirting the 2017-18 season in order to have a loaded team this year.

Gorby and the Penguins were rewarded with a cross country Horizon League title and on Sunday, the pair were asked to put the final jewel in men’s program’s triple crown by pushing the team past 300 points in the 5,000 meter run.

“We had big numbers in mind, but to go into a race and have [Gorby] tell you ‘OK, we need 300,’ Ryan and I looked at each other and said ‘this is just like cross country,’” said Burns, a redshirt-senior from Boardman. “We ran our race with blood and sweat — literally blood because I got spiked up — it was worth it every step of the way.”

The men’s team finished with an all-time Horizon League-best 311.5 points, a staggering point total to win an outdoor League title after previously winning the indoor track and cross county titles.

Warren JFK graduate Chad Zallow turned in an MVP performance.

“This team left a legacy as the greatest team in the Horzion League and they did it in dominating fashion,” Gorby said. “This is the greatest men’s and women’s team we’ve ever had.”

The women’s side won its sixth outdoor title with 251 points — one point short of tying a league record — riding MVP performances from sprinter Jaliyah Elliot and Nicolette Kreatsoulas, a thrower from Poland.

“It’s so cool to be a part of this program. When people are in the [Watson and Tressel Training Site], they don’t really look at the banners, but it’s a good feeling to walk in there and see those and think ‘Wow, I was apart of that,’” Kreatsoulas said. “I helped the team reach that. It’s something not a lot of people get to experience, but to contribute to something like this is one of the best feelings you can ever feel.”

Sullivan, a Howland graduate, finished the 5,000 in second place behind Detroit Mercy’s Ben Kendall with Burns taking third. Working like drivers in an auto race, the pair spent most of their run drafting behind two runners from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis before overtaking them.

Burns received cuts to his shins from the spiked shoes of the IUPUI runners in the process.

Sullivan closed out a stellar weekend where he became the first YSU runner to win the 10,000, setting a Farmers National Bank Field record with a time of 30 minutes, 52.3 seconds.

“That was absolutely wonderful,” Sullivan said. “It’s been a dream for all five years to get a conference title and to do it in an event that I was brought to YSU to run is just a dream come true.”

Given the sweep, it wasn’t surprising after the Penguins earned nearly all of the individual awards at the tournament.

Gorby took home the League’s Coach of the Year honors. Sprinters Jamynk Jackson and Suerethia Henderson was the men’s and women’s Freshman of the Year in the running events.

Jackson, a Valley Christian grad, was part of the winning 4x100 relay and was second in the 100 and 200. Henderson had an identical finish on the women’s side.

The field Freshman of the Year was also a YSU sweep. Heptathlon winner Olivia Jones and Zach Gehm was the runner-up in the discus and shot put.