By Marc Weems
Youngstown State University women’s basketball player Indiya Benjamin and men’s track and field standout Chad Zallow are recognized as the 2017-18 YSU/Vindicator Athletes of the Year at the annual Scholar-Athlete Banquet at The Georgetown in Boardman.
Indiya Benjamin finished her history-making tenure as the program’s point guard holding school career records for assists with 629, minutes with 3,964, games played with 128 and games started with 127. The assists record had stood since 1986. Benjamin finished her career with 1,288 points, which ranks 12th in school history. She became just the second player to lead the Horizon League in assists in three straight seasons. She is the first YSU guard to be named first or second-team all-league since 1999-00 when the Penguins were members of the Mid-Continent Conference.
Chad Zallow has earned four NCAA All-American awards in his three years as a member of the YSU men’s track and field squad. In indoor track, he is a two-time first-team All-American as well as a second-team honoree. In outdoor track, he was a second-team All-American in 2017 with this year’s meet slated for June. So far, he has won 10 Horizon League individual races with eight coming on the indoor circuit.
Zallow has also competed against some of the best at his sport on the national level and competed very nicely. He has been one of the best indoor track athletes at YSU for the past three years.
