Penguins Open Up the 2014 Year Hosting YSU Invitational

by YSU

Sunday, Jan 26, 2014 12:35 am

The Youngstown State men's and women's track and field teams continued their indoor track season hosting the YSU Invitational this Friday at the WATTS. The Penguins competed against 25 other teams including four Division I schools consisting of West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Duquesne, and Virginia Military Institute.

Senior Ciara Jarrett had an excellent debut for the penguins in her first meet of the season finishing first in three events while senior Sam Hamilton, senior Eric Rupe, and senior Bobby Grace also earned a first place finish.

Sam Hamilton had a walk in the park in the 5000 meter run where she lapped everyone in the race giving her the first place finish with a time of 16:37; she was 1:14 faster than second place finisher Jenny Delsignore of Duquesne. Freshman twins McKinsie and Michelle Klim finished back to back in the 5000 meter race where McKinsie placed third (17:59) and Michelle finished fourth (18:03).

Freshman Chenera Lacy jumped her second best jump of the season in high jump with a leap of 1.70m giving herself a third place finish and only missing second place by having two more failed attempts than Hannah Stone of West Virginia who also jumped 1.70m. Freshman Mackenzie Sturtz also finished in the top five for high jump finishing fifth with a jump of 1.65m. Sophmore Jennifer Neider competed in the shot put for the penguins and finished in fourth place with a throw of 14.07m which gives her two top four finishes in the first two meets of the season for YSU.

In the 400m dash sophomore Jen Shiley placed third clocking in a time of 58.01 while senior Alteeka Vanwright finished in sixth place (59.19). Ciara Jarrett got her first two wins of the season as a penguin in the 60m dash finishing with a time of 7.67 and in the 200m dash with a time of 24.88. Senior Alexis Washington wasn't far behind in the 200m where she finished in fourth place (25.77).

Ciara Jarrett continued her impressive performance in the meet in the long jump where she finished yet again in first place with a jump of 5.41m and her teammate Chenera Lacy also finished in the top eight placing eighth jumping 5.15m. Both freshman Savannah Osborne and Ellie Polluck made it to the triple jump finals where Savannah finished in third place (11.14m) and Ellie placed eighth (10.63m).

Eric Rupe has mastered his game at this point in the year gaining another victory for himself. With his second defeat of the indoor track season he finished first in the 5000m run with a time of 14:47 while fellow penguin Austin McLean picked up another top four finish placing fourth in the 5000m at a time of 14:57.

In the field events sophomore Connor Neu placed second in the weight throw with a throw of 19.75m while senior Bobby Grace added another win in the shot put throwing 19.62m beating the school record by 1.04 meters. Freshman Stephen Lyons and junior Eric Vendemia also placed in the shot put with Lyons finishing fifth (15.79) and Vendemia finishing eighth (15.48).

In the jumps sophomore Jay Jakovina finished fifth in high jump with a height of 1.95m and freshman Arnaldo Morales finished in eighth place jumping 1.90m. Freshman William Royal placed eighth for the penguins in the long jump with a jump of 6.36m as well.

The Penguins are back in action on Jan. 31-Feb. 1 where they will compete in the SPIRE Invitational at Geneva, Ohio.

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