By Robert Hayes
The Youngstown State University track and field team had a busy weekend, as they hosted part of the Northeast Ohio Quad at Farmers National Bank Field
The Northeast Ohio Quad features Kent State University, the University of Akron, Ashland University and YSU. The meet has been historically held at the University of Akron, but tree roots caused damage to Akron’s track, making it unusable for this season. Many of the field events where still held at Akron.
“Overall, I think this a good symbol for our program,” YSU coach Brian Gorby said about the meet.
Chad Zallow and Nicolette Kreatsoulas both won weekly Horizon League honors for their performances over the weekend. Zallow did what he did best, as he won both the 110-meter hurdle and 200-meter dash with times of 13.71 seconds and 21.63 seconds, respectively. Kreatsoulas came in second place in the hammer throw, but threw a distance of 58.77-meters on her last throw of the day, breaking the school record of 58.04 meters.
Alan Burns did extremely well, as he won the 5000-meter run with a time of 14:39:36, which is both is new personal-best time and a new facility record at YSU. Collin Harden won the 400-meter hurdle with a time of 52.283 seconds, and the men’s 4×100-meter relay team which includes Jamynk Jackson, Josh Beaumont, Brendon Lucas, and Harden won with a time of 41.55 seconds.
The women’s relay team also came in first, as Antonella LaMonica, Suerethia Henderson, Jaliyah Elliott and Teneisha Myers posted a time of 46.62 seconds.
Terron Taylor had a personal best jump of 2.03 meters, which was good enough for second place in the high jump.
Although Akron normally hosts the event, the other teams enjoyed competing at YSU.
“Akron’s coach and Ashland’s coach both said they love the atmosphere,” Gorby said. “They love looking over the city. They said they love the press box and that our sound system is much better than Akron’s. Akron has grass in the middle so it’s muddy.”
Gorby went on to say how the Northeast Ohio Quad might be returning to YSU next spring.
“Akron doesn’t want to lose this, from what I understand, they’re going to take two to three years to redo their track, so it’s probably going to come back here next year because all the coaches naturally like the setup here,” Gorby said.
YSU does host another meet this season, as they’ll host the Horizon League Outdoor Track and Field Championships from May 3 through 5.
