Day 3 Results | 2015 Horizon League Outdoor Track & Field Championship Complete Results
ROCHESTER, Mich. – It came down to the final event, the men’s 1,600m relay, for Milwaukee to claim the 2015 Horizon League Men’s Track and Field Championship. On the women’s side, Youngstown State capped a season-long run which saw the Penguins win titles in cross country, indoor track and field and now outdoor.
Milwaukee extended its record-setting run with its 16th men’s title, while the Youngstown State women won their eighth – a new Horizon League women's record.
Aided by the Outstanding Men’s Performers in both running – Jordan Schmidt – and field – Alex Chollet – Milwaukee rallied on the final day of the championship, winning the title with a first-place finish in the 1,600m relay.
Schmidt proved himself to be king of the hurdles, as the Milwaukee senior swept the 110m and 400m hurdles. For Schmidt, his time of 53.10 in the 400m marked his second consecutive outdoor title in the event. Taking the mantle from former Panther Durrel Busby, Schmidt captured the 110m hurdles in 14.59 seconds.
The senior also earned the individual points title among men’s competitors, recording 29 points.
Chollet earned 20 points for the Panthers in the field events, capturing the discus, taking third in the shot put and fourth in the hammer.
Marcus Johnson’s 400m win gave Milwaukee its first team lead of the day on the men’s side, inching them ahead of Youngstown State by three points. Johnson’s title in the 400 was his third straight, and his time of 47.46 was his best at the League championships.
The junior is the first men’s athlete to win the 400m three straight years. Johnson then anchored Milwaukee’s victorious 4x400m relay team to hand the Panthers the team title.
Milwaukee took the men’s 4x100m title for the third consecutive year, with Matt Ferry holding off challenges from YSU and Oakland in taking first.
The Panthers’ success continued throughout the running finals, as Schmidt and Nate Pozolinski took the top two spots in the 110m hurdles. Going into the wind, Schmidt crossed the tape in 14.59 seconds, followed by Pozolinski in 14.79.
Youngstown State immediately responded with a 1-2 finish in the men’s 100m. The freshman pair of Leighton Antonio and Carl Zallow took the top two spots with times of 11.03 and 11.11 seconds, respectively.
Antonio collected Outstanding Freshman of the Meet honors, adding a third place in the 200m and helping the Penguins to a runner-up spot in the 4x100m relay and overall.
Oakland collected its first individual title of the afternoon in the men’s 1,500m, as Bryce Stroede utilized a blistering final 300 meters to move from fourth to first. Stroede posted a 57.061 final 400 to win his first Horizon League title.
Before Milwaukee staged its rally in the running events, Youngstown State expanded its lead in the first men’s event of the day, the high jump. Arnaldo Morales defended his title, clearing 2.06m in his first attempt to repeat in his sophomore year.
Oakland sophomore Aaron Davis came through the pack and emerged as the men’s 200m champion in a time of 21.87. Davis just outlasted Milwaukee’s Johnson (21.95) at the line.
The Golden Grizzlies closed their individual titles with David Koponen’s 800m championship, as the senior just beat teammate Christopher Scott to the line in a time of 1:53.80. Scott crossed in 1:53.81.
Milwaukee head coach Pete Corfeld was named the men’s coach of the year, while Detroit’s Colin Cashner was named the Outdoor Athlete of the Year.
On the women’s side, YSU got off to a strong start in the running finals, opening with a title in the 4x100 meter relay. Nina Grambling’s anchor leg lifted the Penguins to the top spot on the podium.
Grambling continued her domination of the sprints in the 100m, winning for the third straight outdoor season. Running into a stiff headwind, the junior’s time of 11.95 was good enough to make her the first woman in League history to win the 100m three times.
The junior added to her haul in the 200m, breezing past the field in 24.16. Her second consecutive outdoor title in the event, Grambling now has five Horizon League individual outdoor championships. Grambling, like Schmidt, earned the Outstanding Performer of the Meet in addition to the individual scoring title with 32.50 points.
Milwaukee used a 1-2 finish in the triple jump to open its push to catch YSU on the women’s side. Freshman Melissa Kirchoff leapt 11.79m to claim the title and was followed by teammate Alize Souter, also a freshman, who posted a top jump of 11.52m.
Kirchoff collected Outstanding Freshman Performer honors after earning 18 points in her first Horizon League Outdoor Championship.
Milwaukee’s Kate Novacek made it a clean sweep for the Panthers in the 400m, taking first in 55.32 seconds. In the 400m hurdles, it was Novacek’s teammate, Michelle Garner, who earned the top spot on the podium. Garner cleared the hurdles and broke the tape in 1:00.10 to earn her second consecutive League title in the event.
Dana Clausen collected her second consecutive title in the 800 as she crossed the line in 2:12.93 to bring the Panthers 10 points.
Oakland’s Serena SanCartier defended her 100m hurdles title, taking first in a time of 14.04 seconds, bettering her 2014 championship time by a half-second.
Rebecca Zaiter of UIC entered the women’s 1,500m as the top seed and was the class of the field, crossing the line in 4:41.861 to best Oakland’s Karli Keur, who ran 4:42.69. Zaiter took second in the 800m to Milwaukee’s Clausen.
Winning the eighth Horizon League title in YSU history, head coach Brian Gorby was named Women’s Coach of the Year.
In her final conference championship meet, Valparaiso senior Sarah Drozdowski captured the second hammer title of her career, launching a 50.20m toss to win the event by nearly five meters. Drozdowski, who collected 25 of Valpo’s 71 points, was named the Outstanding Women’s Field Performer of the Meet in addition to earning Athlete of the Year accolades.
Men’s Award Winners:
Outstanding Performer of the Meet (Running): Jordan Schmidt, Milwaukee
Outstanding Performer of the Meet (Field): Alex Chollet, Milwaukee
Freshman of the Meet (Running): Leighton Antonio, Youngstown State
Freshman of the Meet (Field): Ryan Booth, Youngstown State
Men’s Point Total Champion: Jordan Schmidt, Milwaukee
Coach of the Year: Pete Corfeld, Milwaukee
Athlete of the Year: Colin Cashner, Detroit
Women’s Award Winners:
Outstanding Performer of the Meet (Running): Nina Grambling, Youngstown State
Outstanding Performer of the Meet (Field): Sarah Drozdowski, Valparaiso
Freshman of the Meet (Running): Taylor McDonald, Youngstown State
Freshman of the Meet (Field): Melissa Kirchoff, Milwaukee
Women’s Point Total Champion: Nina Grambling, Youngstown State
Coach of the Year: Brian Gorby, Youngstown State
Athlete of the Year: Sarah Drozdowski, Valparaiso
