Penguins Strong on Day One of Mid-Major Invitational Meet

The first day of the Youngstown State Mid-Major Invitational took place, Friday, Jan. 29.

Youngstown State's top sprinter, sophomore Jahniya Bowers continues to shave off time in the 60-meter dash, little by little. She ran the top time in the 60-meter prelims when she clocked in at 7.56. In the prelims of last week's YSU Indoor College Invitational she ran 7.58 before winning the finals at 7.57.

Her top time as a freshman was at the YSU College Icebreaker on Dec. 6, 2019. In the final round she ran 7.38, becoming only the second person in school history to finish a 60-meter dash under 7.40 seconds. Youngstown State always keeps a deep squad when it comes to sprinters. Four other YSU compYSUetitors make up the field of eight that will compete in today's 60-meter dash final.

Youngstown State junior Surethia Henderson had the second fastest time at 7.74. The opinion that the cancellation of the 2020 outdoor season and any barriers that the COVID-19 pandemic has cause in preparation for this season, has affected the performances of the athletes seems to be true.

Henderson's slowest time in the 60 meters was 7.73, which was ran on Jan. 18, 2019. She has never run under 7.69 since and last year had a consistent stretch where she ran 7.60 and under.

The 60-meter hurdles prelim saw, freshman Emily Bee have the top qualifying time of 9.03 in her first ever collegiate race. Northern Kentucky's Kayla Thompson finished at 9.07. Thompson was the 2019 outdoor Horizon League 100-meter hurdles champ. Last year on the same track she placed second in the Horizon League indoor championship round of the 60-meter hurdles with a personal record time of 8.74.

Youngstown State Freshman Madison Murry had the third fastest 60-meter hurdles time during the prelims. She came in at 9.14, which was an improvement from last week's 9.21 second place finish at the YSU Indoor College Invitational.

The 2019 Horizon League indoor long jump champ, Youngstown senior Jessica Stever took first place in the event on Friday. She won at 5.64 meters, just ahead of teammate Stephanie Simon's jump of 5.62.

Ashland received wins in the pole vault (Erin Sievers) and weight throw (Carrol Pauley), breaking up the host team's dominance. Day two's action starts at today, at 10 a.m., eastern.

Cincinnati's Beard leaps into nation's top five

A couple of weeks ago we did an interview with Cincinnati sophomore Taylor Beard after she won the high jump during a meet at the University of Kentucky.

Below: Taylor Beard

Yesterday she jumped 1.83 for the first time during her collegiate career at the H-Town SpeedCity Series II in Houston. She finished ahead of SMU senior Cassie Ackerman (1.70) who has had a third place and runner-up finish in the American Athletic Conference during her career.

Beard's previous personal best was 1.79 at the McCravy-Green Invitational on Jan. 15. She is currently fifth in the nation.

Texas A&M's Gittens is number 1 in high jump ... Again

All-American Tyra Gittens reclaimed the top high jump spot in the NCAA at 1.91, as she won the pentathlon at the Texas Tech Invitational.

She defeated a field of 12 competitors including athletes from Texas, Arizona, Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Gittens scored 4,612 points in the competition which is also number one in the NCAA.

Baylor's Aaliyah Miller clocks nation's second best 800 time

Senior Aaliyah Miller won the 800-meter run at the Texas Tech Invitational with a time of 2:05.32. Her time is now the second best in the country. She finished ahead of Dominique Mustin of Texas A&M (2:08.44) and Lilly Lavier of Oklahoma State (2:10.67)