Youngstown State Penguins advance five athletes to NCAA East Prelims

The Youngstown State men’s and women’s track and field teams will send five athletes to the NCAA East Region Preliminaries, which take place May 27-29 in Lexington, Kentucky.

This marks the 10th time since 2014 that five-or-more Penguins have been selected to compete in the preliminaries.

On the men’s side, Lukas Lang (pole vault), Micah Mitchell (110m hurdles) and Sage Vavro (3000m steeplechase) will represent the Penguins.

Lang’s last two jumps earned him his second consecutive Horizon League Championship, and his season-best clearance at 5.21m at last week’s Mount Union Last Chance Meet solidified his spot in the preliminaries for the first time in his Penguin career.

Mitchell and Vavro are headed back to the preliminaries for the second consecutive season. Mitchell recorded his qualifying time of 13.83 seconds at the Mount Union Classic in April, while Vavro’s qualifying and school-record time of 8:47.06 came in March at the Raleigh Relays.

On the women’s side, Ainsley Hamsher and Kaitlyn Eger will represent the Penguins in the pole vault.

Hamsher’s season-best clearance of 4.13m at Mount Union placed her among the top 48 qualifiers for the second consecutive season. Eger will make her debut.

The events will take place at the University of Kentucky Outdoor Track and Field Complex for the third time, most recently hosted there in 2024.

The top 12 athletes in each event will advance to the NCAA Championships, scheduled for June 10-13 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

YSU Competition Schedule

Wednesday, May 27

6 p.m. - Men’s 110 Hurdles 6:30 p.m. - Men’s Pole Vault

Thursday, May 28

6:30 p.m. - Women’s Pole Vault

Friday, May 29

5:40 p.m. - Men’s Steeplechase