May 12, 2006

Three Award Winners Pace Penguins to Third Straight Outdoor Title

    Indianapolis -- The Youngstown State women's track and field squad used a strong second day and three specialty award winners to win its third straight Horizon League Outdoor Championship on Saturday.
    Trailing UW-Milwaukee by 26 points heading into the final day, Youngstown State outscored the Panthers 163 to 126 to win by 11 points and claim its fifth overall title in three years.
    Junior Danielle Bolt was named the meet's Outstanding Running Performer after winning the 100m dash, anchoring the winning 4x100m relay and placing fourth in the 200m. Bethany Anderson won the shot put and the hammer to earn Outstanding Field Performer honors, and Cortland native Katie Betts was named Running Newcomer of the Year after placing second in the 200m, third in the 100m and running in both winning relays.
    The win was YSU's 14th overall championship in coach Brian Gorby's 13 seasons. Gorby accepted his sixth Horizon League Coach of the Year award on behalf of the entire staff.
    Two other Penguins picked up individual victories as Satara Freeman won the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.35 and Katy Williams won the discus with a mark of 135 feet, 3 inches.
    Bolt and Betts paced a strong sprints group that scored a total of 73 points. Bolt ran a time of 11.94 in the 100m to edge UW-Milwaukee's Timeka Walker for the top spot. Betts' time of 12.12 was good enough for third, and Ashley Oliver and Darcelle Formby placed fifth. Betts ran a time of 24.83 to place second ahead of Jeanna Cunningham and Bolt in the 200m. Cunningham placed second in the 400m with a time of 56.15, and Kari Kreutzfeld added a fourth-place time of 59.26.
    Cunningham ran the first leg of both relays and was joined by Betts, Yandeh Joh and Bolt in the 4x100m and Kreutzfeld, Joh and Betts in the 4x400m.
    In the distance events, Emily Cicero placed third in the steeplechase with a time of 11:41.89, and Shantel Jackson placed fifth in the 800m with a time of 2:20.23.
    In addition to Freeman's winning time of 14.35 in the 100m hurdles, Joh placed third with a time of 14.78 and finished second in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:03.39.
    In the field events, Joh set the school record in the long jump with a mark of 18-9 3/4, Jen Grayson tied the school record and placed second in the high jump with a mark of 5-5 3/4. Carly Youlton finished one spot behind Joh in the long jump with a mark of 18-6 and placed third in the triple jump with a mark of 37-11 1/4.
    Behind Anderson's mark of 44-3 1/2 in the shot put, Lindsey Hill finished second with a distance of 42-3 1/4 and Amy Hill was fourth with a heave of 40-6 1/4. Jacquline Clonch finished second in the discus with a mark of 133-5, and Amy Hill posted a mark of 126-0 to place fifth. Amy Hill added a third-place mark in the hammer with a mark of 147-9, and Lindsey Cobey placed fourth with a distance of 143-5. Lindsey Hill placed fourth in the javelin with a mark of 113-0.
    Grayson added a second-place score of 4,195 points in heptathlon.
    All event winners are eligible to compete at the NCAA Mideast Regional, which will begin May 26 at the University of Tennessee.

Team Scores

1. Youngstown State 216
2. UW-Milwaukee 205
3. Butler 71
4. Loyola 67
5. Detroit 55
6. UIC 30
7. Wright State 4

Award Winners

Running Newcomer of the Year
Katie Betts • Cortland, Ohio

Outstanding Running Performer
Danielle Bolt • Brookline, Mass.

Outstanding Field Performer
Bethany Anderson • Jamestown, N.Y.