The Youngstown State track and field squad qualified six athletes to compete at the NCAA East Preliminary competition May 26-28 in Jacksonville, Fla. Advancing for YSU was Leighton Antonio, Chad Zallow, Arnaldo Morales, Ryan Booth, Conner Neu on the men's side and Jaynee Corbett for the women.
The East Preliminaries are being hosted by North Florida at Hodges Stadium while the West Prelims are at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan.
Among the six, Neu is the top qualifier for the Penguins ranking fourth in the hammer throw. Neu's season-best toss was 70.96m at the Slippery Rock Dave Labor Invitational. He is one of just six athletes who are competing in Jacksonville to have a throw of 70m or better this year. Overall, Neu ranks sixth nationally in the event.
Zallow and Antonio are the two runners to qualify for YSU. Zallow qualified 22nd in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.92 seconds. Antonio qualified 42nd in the 100m dash with a time of 10.47 seconds.
In the high jump, Morales, a three-time Horizon League champion, qualified 22nd clearing a height of 2.15m. Booth qualified 33rd in the shot put with a throw of 17.54m
Corbett, the lone member of the YSU women's team to reach the prelims, qualified 25th in the shout put at 15.60m.
Neu will compete at noon while Antonio will run at 6:55 p.m. on Thursday. Zallow will run at 5 p.m. on Friday while Corbett (3:30 p.m.), Morales (5 p.m.) and Booth (6 p.m.) will have to wait until Saturday to compete.
Senior Austin McLean did not declare in the steeplechase because of a season-ending leg injury. He was ranked in the top 25 in the East in the event.
