April 6, 2008

Two Throwers Hit NCAA Regional Marks in Outdoor Opening Weekend

    Youngstown -- Youngstown State throwers Bethany Anderson and Aaron Merrill surpassed automatic qualifying marks for the NCAA Mideast Regional in the Penguins' first weekend of the outdoor track and field season.
    Anderson hit the regional standard in the hammer while Merrill qualified in the shot put. Both also improved on their own school records.
    Anderson posted a mark of 190-5 in the hammer to finish fifth at the Pepsi Florida Relays in Gainesville, Fla. On a list of the nation's top performances through March, Anderson's would rank her 22nd in the country.
    Merrill placed second among collegiate competitors and third overall at the Relays with his distance of 55-2 3/4. Joe Lahmon was 8.25 inches shy of hitting the regional qualifying mark in the hammer with his fourth-place mark of 185-8 in his first attached meet since the 2007 outdoor season.
    Other top-10 finishes in Florida included Jerrill Hall's fifth-place mark in the high jump (6-2 3/4), Alisha Anthony's sixth-place leap in the long jump (18-7 1/4), John Pallini's 10th-place finish in the shot put (49-1 1/2) and Jeremiah Folger's runner-up finish in the "B" section of the shot put (48-8 3/4).
    Also in Florida, Hall moved into third place on YSU's record list in the 110m hurdles with his time of 15.22, and R.D. Goodright (1:53.16) and Harold Jones (1:53.62) now rank fourth and sixth in the 800m. Hall also ranks fifth in the high jump, Pallini is fifth all-time in the shot put and Folger is ninth.
    Anthony's long jump distance ranks her second in school history, Carpin and Wilson rank third and fourth in the pole vault, Danielle Curry ranks eighth in the shot put (42-2 1/4) and Breanne Romeo ranks ninth in the 400m (57.73),
    At the Jack Hazen Open at Malone College, Kari Kreutzfeld won the 400m (57.52) and finished fourth in the 200m (25.99) while Darcelle Formby was third in both the 100m (12.70) and 200m (25.88). Lauren Blase added a runner-up finish in the 5,000m (18:54.66).
    Three Penguins finished in the top 10 in the pole vault as Stephanie Jarvis was fourth (9-6 1/4), Amanda Carpin was seventh (9-0 1/4) and Darla Wilson tied for eighth (8-6 1/4). Dom DeFilippo  added a fifth-place effort in the hammer (150-1).
    YSU will have a split squad again next weekend with members competing at both the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tenn. and the Northeast Ohio Quad in Akron.