In 1987, a Boardman, Ohio, native
laced up his track shoes and put on
his Penguins jersey for the first
time. Now, entering his 21st season as a
member of the Youngstown State track
and field family and his 16th as
head coach, Brian Gorby has built
one of the elite programs in Ohio,
the Horizon League and the Mideast
Region.
After earning three letters as an athlete from 1987-1990,
Gorby served as an assistant coach
in both cross country and track
before being promoted to the helm of
the cross country program in August
of 1993. He was named head track and
field coach in July of the following
year.
In his 15 seasons, Gorby has
led the men's program to six
conference championships and the
women to 11conference titles. He
also directed the men's squad to the
Mid-Continent Conference Triple
Crown in the 1996-97 season as the
team won the league title in cross
country and both the indoor and
outdoor track titles. On the
individual level, he has produced
one All-American, nine national
qualifiers, three junior national
qualifiers and 28 NCAA Mideast
Regional qualifiers. Gorby has also
seen Jarrod Davis earn Academic
All-America accolades in 2006 and 93
student-athletes garner academic
all-league laurels.
After claiming eight Mid-Continent Conference Championships
from 1994-2001, the Penguins have
continued to reap conference titles
after moving into the Horizon League
by winning six track and field
titles in six years. Gorby has also
led the Penguins to 78 individual
titles and 14 relay wins in
the Horizon League.
Emerging on the National
Level
On March 15,
2003, Kurt Michaelis moved the
Youngstown State track and field
program to a new level by becoming
the school's first Division I
All-American. After hitting the
provisional mark in the mile
at the Meyo Invitational on Feb. 8,
he entered the national meet with
the 12th-fastest time in the nation.
He finished third in his first heat
to qualify for finals then crossed
the finish line ninth during finals
with a time of 4:07.79. Michaelis
was named the Horizon League Indoor
Track & Field Athlete of the Year
two weeks later, and he earned his
first of two Vindicator/YSU
Student-Athlete of the Year awards
in May.
With Gorby as an assistant coach in 1994, Mona Jackson became
YSU's first provisional national qualifier in the
indoor 55m. In 1997 with Gorby at
the helm, Laura
Thomas became the first-ever YSU
cross country athlete to qualify for
national competition. After
finishing third out of 189 runners
at the Great Lakes Regional, she
placed 124th with a a time of 18:16
at the national meet. Matt Folk
became the first male cross country
runner to
make it to nationals a year later
and placed 77th with a time of
31:48.9.
Also in 1998, YSU saw its first male
athlete provisionally qualify for national
competition in track and field as
Paul Carter qualified in the 800m.
Thomas qualified for nationals again
in 1999, this time provisionally in outdoor track
and field in the 10,000-meter run. In 2000, Kofi Owusu-Ansah posted a
15th-place finish in the 200m dash
at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field
Championships. Davis hit the
provisional mark in the weight throw
in 2006 and Anderson eclipsed the
standard in 2007.
Since the inception of the NCAA Mideast
Regional in 2003, YSU has had
student-athletes qualify 34
times by hitting the required mark
or winning a Horizon League outdoor
title. In 2007 Bethany Anderson
posted the highest-ever finish by a
Penguin at the meet by finishing
eighth in the hammer. A year
earlier, a program high 11 different
student-athletes competed at the
regional. Michaelis placed 10th in
the 1,500m as a member of YSU's
first qualifying class along with
Eugene Harris, Delores Gaines and
Beth Hochstetler. His 10th-place
finish still ranks as the top for
a YSU student-athlete in a running
event, and he is the only Penguin to
compete in two individual events
during the same regional.
Gorby has also coached
four student-athletes who have
qualified for the Junior Outdoor
Track & Field Championships. In 2002
Emily Schnitkey finished 16th in the
5,000m at Stanford University as the
program's first qualifier. Aaron
Merrill placed 13th in the shot put
and Katie Betts finished sixth in
her heat and 32nd overall in the
200m as two Penguins qualified for
the first time in school history in
2006. In 2008, freshman Breanne
Romeo in the 400-meter dash at the
Saint Francis Red Flash Open.
On to the Horizon
Since Youngstown State joined the
Horizon League in the 2001-02 school
year, Gorby has led the Penguins to
eight conference crowns and 28 special
individual awards at the conference
meet.
From 2004-2006, the women's track and field squad won five
out of a possible six Horizon League
Championships. Included in that
stretch was a string of four
straight from the 2004 indoor title
to the 2005 outdoor crown.
The women's squad in 2008 took both the indoor and outdoor
conference championships. Bethany
Anderson was named Field MVP, top
newcomers Breanne Romeo and Danielle
Curry and sophomore Alisha Anthony
helped lead a second-day surge that
gave the Youngstown State women's
track and field team its first
Horizon League Indoor Track and
Field title since 2005, edging
Milwaukee 170-159 to end its
three-year drought. At the
Outdoor Championships, Alisha
Anthony and Breanne Romeo were named
the top newcomers, as the Penguins
had a solid all-around effort to
capture the Horizon League crown.
Anthony won the triple jump with a
school-record mark of 39-4 and
finished second in the long jump
with a personal-best leap of 18-11
1/4. Romeo was one-hundredth of a
second from tying the Horizon League
record in the 400m, turning in a
first-place time of 55.36. Bethany
Anderson added a win in the hammer
and both of YSU's women's relays
were victorious.
Gorby was named the Women's Coach of the Year for the
15th time in his career after
leading the program to its seventh
league title in the last five years
In May 2006, the
Penguins trailed by 26 points
heading into the final day. A strong
effort from the sprint group and
three specialty award winners helped
YSU score 163 points on the final
day to win by 11. Danielle Bolt was
named the meet's Outstanding Running
Performer after winning the 100m
dash, anchoring the winning 4x100m
relay and placing fourth in the
200m. Anderson won the shot put and
the hammer to earn Outstanding Field
Performer honors, and Betts was
named Running Newcomer of the Year
after placing second in the 200m,
third in the 100m and running in
both winning relays.
A year earlier the Penguins sat third after day one before
rallying to win their fourth
straight Horizon League Track and
Field title behind two individual
victories from Emily Schnitkey and one from Anderson. Schnitkey won the steeplechase with a
time of and the 5,000 while Anderson
set two school records and won the
shot put to earn Field Newcomer of
the Year honors. YSU set three
championship records at the meet
with Aaliyah Gillespie setting the
conference record the 100m hurdles,
Anderson topping the standard in the
shot put and Jeanna Cunningham,
Yandeh Joh, Leslie Johnson and Emily
Wollet setting the 4x400m reord.
The Penguins turned in a dominating performance at the
2005 indoor meet, winning the
title by 62 points and collecting
three out of four individual awards.
Cunningham was named Track Performer
of the Meet and freshman Carly
Youlton was named Field Performer of
the Meet. Anderson was named the
league's Field Newcomer of the Year.
YSU won eight different events as Bolt and Youlton won two
events apiece while Cunningham,
Gillespie and Anderson won one
event. Cunningham and Gillespie also
teamed up with Joh and Wollet to win
the 4x400m relay. Bolt set the
conference record in the 60m and
Anderson set the standard in the
shot put.
At the 2004 Horizon League Outdoor Championship, the Penguins
pulled together through a season
full of injuries and adversity to
top Milwaukee by 18 points. Bolt
and Gillespie won three events
apiece to pace the winning effort.
Leslie Johnson was part of both
winning relays to cap off a year in
which she was named the
Vindicator/YSU Student-Athlete of
the Year.
In the 2004 indoor campaign, the women picked
up the
program's first conference track
title since 1996. Bolt highlighted
the championship meet as she was named Newcomer
of the Year after winning the 60m
and running in the winning 4x400m
relay. Gillespie, Schnitkey and
Johnson also earned individual
victories.
Gorby also directed the men’s track and field team to the
2003 Horizon League Indoor
Championship, which was YSU's first
Horizon League crown in any sport.
Eugene Harris swept the sprinting
events for the second straight year
at the meet while Michaelis was the
league champion in the mile.
During the 2003 outdoor season Harris set conference records
in the 100m and 200m that still
stand to be named Outstanding
Running Performer. Michaelis earned
the same honor a year later as he
ended his career with nine
individual Horizon League titles.
Overshadowed by the championship trophies, YSU has also
finished as runners-up at the league
meet eight times.
Gorby's success in the Horizon League is not limited to just
track and field, and the future
looks promising to get the cross
country program back to the success
it enjoyed in the 1990s.
In 2007 a young men's team finished third at the conference
meet, which was its highest since
2003. Sophomore Justin Dickman and
junior Dan Nemergut earned
Second-Team All-Horizon League
honors, and three of YSU's top six
finishers were freshmen.
In 2005, Schnitkey capped off an impressive cross country
career by earning for her fourth
top-10 finish at the Horizon League
meet. She also finished sixth in
2004 and 2002 and seventh in 2001.
As a freshman she earned Horizon
League Newcomer of the Year honors
and was named the Ohio Freshman of
the Year by finishing 11th at the
All-Ohio Championships.
During the 2003 cross country season, Gorby helped the men's
squad to their 11th-straight year of
finishing third or better at a
conference cross country
championship. He also guided
freshman Lisa Davies to a
second-place finish at the
conference meet that earned her
First-Team All-League accolades and
the title Newcomer of the Year title.
Her finish is the best ever for a
Penguin in the Horizon League. Like
Schnitkey, Davies was also named Ohio Freshman
of the Year by posting a 12th-place
finish at the All-Ohio
Championships.
Success in
the Mid-Con
Before joining the Horizon League, Gorby
led the Penguins to eight
Mid-Continent Conference
Championships in a four-year span.
The men won cross country
championships in 1994, 1995 and
1996, while claiming both the indoor
and outdoor titles in 1997. The
women's squad won the league title
in cross country in 1997, the indoor
track and field title in 1996 and
the outdoor track and field title in
1997. Gorby also coached three athletes of
the year and four newcomers of the
year in the Mid-Con.
In 1997 Thomas and Andrea Cohol paced the women's cross
country team to its first-ever
conference crown. Thomas became
YSU's first individual cross country
champion and Cohol finished third as
the Penguins won by an impressive 16
points over Southern Utah. In the
spring of 1997, Thomas and Marcella
Scaife each won two events as the
Penguins won the outdoor track and
field title by narrowly edging
Western Illinois by 0.83 points. The
1996 women's indoor squad won YSU's
first conference crown in track and
field as Scaife won two events.
The 1996-97 academic year was a dominant one for the men's
program as it won conference titles
in cross country, indoor track and
outdoor track. Folk finished third
at the cross country championship
meet while Chris Emory and Mark
Brady both finished in the top 10 to
start the winning trend. Bob Bond
won two events to lead the Penguins
to the indoor crown, and YSU
captured in the outdoor title by
defeated Troy State by a lopsided
score of 271.5-129. Bond,
Owusu-Ansah and Jason Pope each won
two events apice.
In 1994 YSU won the Mid-Con Cross Country title behind
Brady's second-place finish and a
sixth-place effort from Donn Craig.
Brady's runner-up placing is still
the best by a male cross country
runner in school history. Brady
placed fifth a year later in 1995
while Craig and Folk finished in the
top 10 to lead YSU to another
conference crown.
Owusu-Ansah
still holds the conference record -
now the Summit League - in the
outdoor 200m with his time of 20.89.
Jasmine Reynolds is the conference
record-holder in the outdoor 100m
dash (11.86), and Karyn McCready
owns the javelin mark at 45.19m.
Personal
As a noted distance runner himself, Gorby has competed in
several marathons. His personal-best
time of 2 hours and 26 minutes still
ranks him as one of the top runners
in the nation.
He received his doctorate in educational leadership
in 2003 from Youngstown State after
earning a bachelor’s degree in
education in 1990 and a master’s in
physical education in 1994.
Gorby and his wife, Charlotte,
reside in Austintown, Ohio with
their daughter Jersey and their son
Beau.
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