Victorious Young Penguins

Jahniya Bowers racked up wins in the 60 and 200 meters on day two of the Youngstown State Mid-Major Invitational, yesterday.

In the 60-meter dash, Bowers' time continues to drop as she finished the race ahead of teammate junior Suerethia Henderson's time of 7.76. In four attempts of the 60 meters this season, Bowers, a Youngstown State sophomore, has run times of 7.58, 7.57, 7.56 before her winning time of 7.54 on Saturday.

Bowers, Henderson and a third Youngstown State sprinter sophomore Kyndia Matlock placed one, two and three in both the 60 and 200 meters. Bowers won the 200-meter dash at 24.83. Henderson and Matlock crossed the finish line at 25.12 and 25.76 respectively.

Youngstown State freshman Madison Murry was fourth in the 200-meter dash at 25.82, but her biggest moment of the day came in the 60-meter hurdles. Murry ran a time of 9.14 on Friday, which was third in the preliminary round behind teammate Emily Bee's 9.03 and Northern Kentucky's Kayla Thompson, who finished at 9.07.

On Saturday, Murry's time improved drastically as she won at 8.83, ahead of Northern Kentucky's Tyra Kennedy (9.17). Bee didn't complete the race and Thompson sat out of the finals due to a shin injury. Thompson was the 2019 Horizon League 100-meter hurdles champ and was the runner-up of the Horizon League 60-meter hurdles final during the 2020 conference championship.

Murry's 8.83 mark currently is the fastest among all competitors in the Horizon League. She has the only time in the conference under nine seconds.

Northern Kentucky's Lynsey Shipley won the 400-meter dash at 57.74 which is now the top mark in the Horizon League as well. Shipley, a junior, won the conference title in the outdoor version of the 400 meters during her freshman season in 2019. Just as Youngstown State dominated the 60 and 200 meters, Northern Kentucky did the same in the 400 meters race. Shipley's teammates sophomore Megan Sullivan (58.71) and junior Andrea Armstrong (58.86) placed second and third respectively.

Wright State got in on the winning action as Lauren Shuman took the mile at 5:23.51. The senior who placed fourth in last year's Horizon League indoor final, placed ahead of Cleveland State freshman Savannah Shaver (5:26,63) and Youngstown State freshman Julia Magliocca (5:28.01) in the field of 12 runners.

An interesting occurrence took place as junior Miyuki Sugiyama of NCAA Division II, Ashland earned a win in the high jump at 1.62 in a field that included six Division I competitors from Youngstown State. The victory was Sugiyama's second collegiate high jump win. The first came Jan. 18, 2019 at the Youngstown State Invite when she jumped 1.60 during her freshman season.

Ashland also got a win in the pole vault when sophomore Erin Sievers hit a mark of 3.69. Other day two wins of note include, Youngstown State freshman Nia Williams-Mathews who won the triple jump at 11.41. Robert Morris senior Estelle Katende took a win in the shot put with a throw of 13.68.

Nelson & Terry square off in Arkansas

Above: Kemba Nelson

The women with the two fastest times in the NCAA met at the Razorback Invitational on Friday. USC senior Twanisha Terry ran 7.14 on Jan. 22 at the Wooo Pig Classic also at Arkansas.

Oregon junior Kemba Nelson hadn't taken the track before this weekend but her time of 7.19 in the finals of the Razorback Invitational gave her a win over Terry who finished at 7.24. Nelson's 7.19 is now second in the country, ahead of Kentucky's Abby Steiner who ran 7.22 at the Wooo Pig Classic which was the runner-up finish to Terry.