Track & Field Impresses At The YSU Icebreaker On Friday

Friday, December 7

Youngstown, OH

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Pitt

Youngstown State Icebreaker

Track & Field Impresses At The YSU Icebreaker On Friday

12/8/2018 12:09:00 PM | Track & Field

Results (PDF)

YOUNGSTOWN – Pitt track and field officially opened up their 2018-19 indoor season on Friday afternoon with an impressive showing at the Youngstown State Icebreaker meet. The Panthers saw four athletes hit ACC qualifying standards and three individuals and one relay claim victories in the first meet of the indoor season.

"The first meet of the season is an opportunity for the athletes and coaches to see how training has been going and also the competitiveness of the team as a whole," said head coach Alonzo Webb. "The level of competition was good for our younger athletes as it gave them a taste of what to come on a much larger scale when they return from the holiday break."

The four Panthers that were able to hit ACC qualifying standards were Drew Glick and Dante' Watson in the men's 800m race, Greg Lauray in the high jump and on the women's side it was junior Taylor Middleton in the long jump.

Glick was able to collect the victory in the 800m race with a time of 1:50.88 as he finished just ahead of Watson who took home second place in 1:51.54. In the high jump, Lauray posted a career-best leap of 2.11m to claim second place overall while Middleton picked up right where she left off last season, collecting the win in the long jump with a leap of 5.92m.

"We had quite a few impressive performances across the board," said Webb. "Taylor Middleton is picking up where she left off last season in the long jump as she won the meet this weekend and currently ranks first in the ACC and top 15 in the nation. On the men's side, Drew Glick and Dante' Watson had a strong showing as they are currently number one and two in the nation in the 800m."

The women's 4x400m relay team of Flora Ahiarakwe, Eddita Pessima, Erica Babusci and Sydni Townsend, all freshman, earned the victory in convincing fashion as they were clocked at 3:52.84, four seconds ahead of the second place team from Buffalo. On the men's side, the 4x400m relay squad of Kenneth Brosier, Noah Cook, Crockett Schooler and Matt Wilson took home fifth place in 3:22.05.

In the 60m hurdles final, Pessima ran a great race and took home second place in 8.61 seconds while junior Aysha Muhammad finished right behind her in third place, clocking in at 8.79 seconds. The Panthers also placed three runners in the top six in the 60m dash as Jaylyn Aminu notched a third place finish in 7.64 seconds while Danielle Leaks took fifth place in 7.75 seconds and Genaya Johnson earned sixth place, finishing in 7.78 seconds.

Pitt had a pair of athletes earn top five finishes in the 200m run on Friday as Jabari Michael-Khensu collected a third place finish on the men's side in 21.87 seconds while Leaks took home fourth place in 24.97 seconds. In the 400m final on the women's side, three Panthers took home top five finishes as Breanna Phillips placed second in 55.65 seconds, Nikki Scherer placed third in 55.85 seconds and Ahiarakwe took home fifth place in 56.82 seconds.

In the distance events, senior Nate Sloan was able to collect a win for the Panthers in the one mile run as he finished in 4:14.66 while on the women's side, freshman Caelan Miller had a strong showing in the one mile run as she took home fourth place, finishing in 5:19.55. In the 1000m run, freshman Sydni Townsend had an impressive showing as she took home second place with a time of 3:02.19.

In the other field events, the Panthers saw Middleton collect another top five finish as she took home fifth place in the triple jump with a leap of 11.37m while sophomore thrower Antoinette Gyles finished in sixth place in the weight throw with a throw of 15.85m.

"We have a lot that we can improve on going into next semester but this was an encouraging start to our indoor season," stated Webb. "It's going to be up to each individual to continue to follow their training plan over break if they want to continue getting better and achieve our goal to be a contender for championships in the ACC."

UP NEXT
The Panthers will have some time off before they continue their indoor season as they head to the Nittany Lion Challenge, hosted by Penn State, on Saturday, Jan. 12.

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