Youngstown State senior Sean Peterson has been named a 2021 Alfreeda Golf Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Friday.
Peterson was one-of-two male athletes awarded due to a tie in the voting process. Milwaukee sprinter, sophomore Michael Gorman, was also awarded.
Peterson becomes the fifth YSU male athlete to accept the award, the first since former-teammate Chad Zallow in 2019. Prior, the Penguins had won the award the previous five seasons (2014-18) and in 2003.
Peterson owns the league's top times in the 800m run (1:50.95) and the mile (4:14.72) entering the 2021 Horizon League Indoor Track & Field Championships. His 800m mark, set during the YSU Mid-Major Invitational, qualified as the second-fastest 800m time in YSU history and the country's 53rd-best time to date, while being a personal-best. Peterson was tabbed the Horizon League Men's Runner of the Week following the event victory. He also tallied an event victory in the mile run at the YSU Collegiate Invitational Jan. 15. Capping his regular season, Peterson posted a top-six finish in the Camel City Elite 800m section of the Camel City Invitational Feb. 20, finishing with a 1:51.00 mark.
Milwaukee's Meg Swietlik received the women's Alfreeda Goff Athlete of the Year honors.
The 2021 Horizon League Indoor Track & Field Championships will begin tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the Lutheran Health Fieldhouse in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The meet is hosted by Horizon League newcomer, Purdue Fort Wayne. With an event victory in the 800m, Peterson would become the only runner in league history to win the event four times.
