Oakland and Youngstown Lead Heading Into #HLTF Championship Finals
Day 1 Results
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The first day of the 2020 Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships concluded with one new League record set on Saturday evening at the Watson & Tressel Training Center. Oakland leads the women’s competition with a score of 69, followed closely by Youngstown State with 51 points. The Penguins are on top of the men’s competition with a score of 66 while Milwaukee is in second place with 44.
There was a new conference record set in the final preliminary heat of the women’s 200 meter dash by Alfreeda Goff Indoor Track & Field Female Co-Athlete of the Year, Jaliyah Elliott of Youngstown State. Elliot beat her own League record, set in last year’s championship, with a new top time of 23.75 seconds. She currently holds the League records in the 200 meter dash and the 60 meter dash heading into Sunday’s finals.
The pentathlon was the opening event of the 2020 Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships. Youngstown State sophomore Olivia Jones was the champion, scoring 3,681 points in the event and setting a new school record for the second year in a row. Emily Schaub of Oakland was the runner-up with a score of 3,320. Cleveland State’s Julianne Lenling rounded out the top podium spots with a third-place of 3,238 points.
Olivia Kane defended her title in the pole vault for Oakland, reaching a height of 3.80 meters. Milwaukee sophomore Kate Watson was the second-place finisher while freshman Megan Kusler after each finished at a height of 3.70 meters.
Freshman Austin Wallace of Milwaukee finished first in the men’s long jump with 7.52m. Earlier in the day, he set a new heptathlon long jump League record of 7.26m. Milwaukee junior Kyra Arendt took the long jump crown with a finish of 5.84m. Chontel Fils of Youngstown State followed with a 5.79m jump, while Detroit Mercy’s Kyri Jackson took third with 5.72m.
Youngstown State took the top two spots of the men’s pole vault with sophomore Wyatt Lefker (4.80m) in first and freshman Blaine Brokschmidt (4.70m) picking up second. Ben Gutzky (18.91m) and Zach Gehm (18.51m) were the top finishers in the men’s weight throw for Youngstown State.
Gabriell Cyriax of Oakland was the champion of the women’s weight throw with a 17.23m toss. Detroit Mercy’s Brynne Gustafson (16.56m) was the runner-up and Sammy Dyson (15.99m) took third for Youngstown State.
The women’s 5,000 meter was a photo finish with Katelyn Murphy of IUPUI crossing the line in 16:55.40 to win just .06 seconds ahead of Megan Nichols of Oakland.
The men’s 5,000 meter title went to Eric Hoffman of IUPUI in a time of 14:39.71. Detroit Mercy senior James McCann was runner-up with a 14:40.83 finish. The Jags saw Brennan Butche (14:46.93) and Ben Savage (14:58.01) earn third and fourth, respectively.
The final event of the evening was the distance medley relay. The women’s race was won by Oakland, running a time of 12:09.11.
The men’s winner of the men's DMR was IUPUI in a finishing time of 10:16.97.
The 2020 Horizon League Indoor Track and Field Championships comes to a conclusion on Sunday, March 1 with the Heptathlon starting at 9:00 a.m. ET. Streaming for finals will start at 12:55 p.m. ET on ESPN3. Visit the championship central page for live scoring, ESPN3 links, and more.
FINAL TEAM SCORES
WOMEN
1) Oakland 69
2) Youngstown State 51
3) Milwaukee 45
4) IUPUI 20
5) Detroit Mercy 19.5
6) Northern Kentucky 10
7) UIC 8
8) Cleveland State 6.5
9) Wright State 5
MEN
1) Youngstown State 66
2) Milwaukee 44
3) IUPUI 33
4) Detroit Mercy 23
5) Oakland 17
6) Northern Kentucky 6
7) UIC 5