April 28, 2008

Romeo Qualifies for USA Junior Outdoor Championships at Red Flash Open

    Loretto, Pa. -- Youngstown State freshman Breanne Romeo qualified for the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 400-meter dash this weekend at the Saint Francis Red Flash Open.
    Romeo (Boardman, Ohio) ran a time of 55.63 seconds to eclipse the qualifying standard of 55.94. She joins teammate Katie Betts as the only two sprinters in school history to qualify for the national meet.  Romeo will now compete against sprinters aged 14 to 19 in the country on Saturday, June 21, at Ohio State's Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
    Romeo's time was one of nine performances by Youngstown State that broke a meet record and one of 10 individual victories.
    In addition to Romeo's efforts, Alisha Anthony set two meet records in the field. She leaped 18-1 3/4 to win the long jump, and she posted a first-place mark of 36-4 3/4 in the triple jump. Aaron Merrill also set two meet records, winning the discus with a personal-best mark of 147-5 and taking the top spot in the shot put with a heave of 57-7 3/4.
    Yandeh Joh won the 100m hurdles in a meet-record time of 14.86, and Dawn Goodwin won the steeplechase with a meet-record time of 12:56.50. Robyn Ray added a victory in the high jump (5-1 3/4).
    On the men's side, Shayne York set the meet record in the long jump with a first-place leap of 22-5 3/4. Harold Jones clocked in with a meet-record time of 1:54.41 to win the 800m.
    The Penguins will compete in three different meets next weekend, including the decathlon and heptathlon portions of the Horizon League Championships on Friday and Saturday in Indianapolis. YSU will also compete at the Toledo Invitational on Friday and the Butler Twilight on Saturday.