Day 1 Results, Scores | Day 2 Results, Scores
ROCHESTER, Mich. – Youngstown State sits one day from a sweep of the Horizon League Track and Field Championships as the Penguins earned five individual titles en route to the top spot on both the men’s and women’s sides.
The defending men’s champions, Youngstown State holds a 20-point lead on Valparaiso with 78 points. Milwaukee sits third with 43 points, followed by UIC (27), Oakland (21) and Detroit (20).
Also the defending women’s champions, the Penguins sit on 88 points, 39 clear of Valparaiso. Wright State is currently third with 42 points, with Detroit four points behind. Milwaukee (34), Oakland (25) and UIC (3) round out the field.
The Penguins enjoyed a banner day, beginning with Nina Grambling. The senior reached the top of the podium for the eighth time in her career – both indoor and outdoor – in the women’s long jump, reaching 5.61m. Grambling will also be the top seed in the women’s 200m tomorrow.
In the women’s pole vault, senior Hanna Ropp garnered the first outdoor pole vault title in Youngstown State history, clearing 3.50m (11’5 ¾”).
The Penguins also swept the shot put, as Jennifer Neider set a new Horizon League record in the preliminary round with a toss of 14.51m and used a 14.49m effort in the finals to capture the League title. Freshman Ryan Booth’s second toss of the finals went 17.54m, and he cleared 17 meters in his next three throws en route to his first career title.
Detroit collected its fourth individual title of the tournament in the day’s first event, as Aisha Potts-Tyre fended off challengers to capture the heptathlon with 4,659 points. After the first day of competition, Potts-Tyre went to bed with a 27-point lead and wound up winning by 54 after posting the best result in today’s javelin toss and second-best long jump.
In the decathlon, it was a freshman who took the top spot on the podium. Winning four of the 10 events, UIC’s Michael Crepeau tallied 6,087 points in cruising to the victory. Crepeau took first in three events on Friday before cementing his title with a first-place tally in the discus Saturday morning.
Jazmin Taylor gave Valparaiso its first-ever Horizon League high jump champion, clearing 1.69m on her first attempt at the height. Taylor was the first of two competitors to clear 1.69, as Youngstown State’s Chenera Lacey also cleared the bar, but on her third attempt.
Nate Pozolinski of Milwaukee surged to the men’s long jump title, leaping 7.24m (23’09”) to earn his first long jump championship.
Justin Zosso of Valparaiso outclassed the field in the men’s pole vault, clearing 16’3 ¼” to best his competitors by over a foot. Zosso and teammate Alexander Watson went 1-2 in the event, helping Valparaiso take second in the men’s standings.
Oakland took its first individual championship of the meet in the women’s steeplechase, as junior Miranda Haas used a blistering final two laps to pull away and win in 11:03.16.
Concluding the day, Youngstown State went 1-2 in the men’s steeplechase as Eric Rupe and Austin McLean worked together to reel in Oakland’s Andrew Bowman and take control of the race. Coming down the stretch together, it was the senior Rupe who took the win in 8:58.52.
The final day of the championship will begin at 10am ET with the hammer, triple jump and high jump competitions. Running events will start at 12pm ET, with live coverage on ESPN3.
