Youngstown State: Womens’ basketball players honored, track highlights

Youngstown State seniors Lilly Ritz and Megan Callahan are both being recognized as members of the All-Horizon League teams as voted upon by the league’s 11 head coaches, the conference office announced on Monday.

Ritz has been tabbed the Horizon League’s Defensive Player of the Year and a member of the All-Horizon League First Team, and Callahan was named to the Third Team. Ritz is the first Penguin to be named Defensive Player of the Year in any conference, and she is just the second YSU player to be named to the All-Horizon League First Team twice. Callahan, a sixth-year senior and a team captain in both of her seasons at Youngstown State, is an all-conference pick for the first time in her career.

“I’m extremely proud of Lilly and Megan for being honored by the Horizon League,” said YSU head coach John Barnes. “They both have had fantastic seasons and deserve these honors.”

“I’m sure both Lilly and Megan would comment on their teammates helping them achieve these awards. We have a very unselfish and hard-working team that has helped them have such great seasons.”

Ritz, a native of Cambridge, Ohio, had the best season by any player in the conference according to the statistical rankings. Through the end of the regular season, Ritz leads the Horizon League in rebounding (10.9 rebounds per game) and field-goal percentage (.605), and she ranks in the top three in scoring (17.5 ppg), steals (1.8 spg) and blocks (1.3 bpg). She also posted 18 double-doubles, which is five more than any other player in the conference. In league games, she led the circuit in rebounding (11.5) and field-goal percentage (.590) while ranking second in scoring (17.1) and blocks (1.5).

On the national level, Ritz ranks sixth in the country in double-doubles, and she’s 10th in rebounds per game and 11th in field-goal percentage.

Ritz’s overall play earned her a spot on the All-Horizon League First Team for the second straight season, and her ranking in steals, blocks and rebounds contributed to her claim as Defensive Player of the Year. She is the first Penguin to be a two-time all-defensive pick, and she joined Heidi Schlegel as the only YSU players to be named All-Horizon League First Team twice.

“The Defensive Player-of-the-Year award just goes to show how valuable Lilly was on both sides of the ball,” Barnes said. “Averaging a double-double is extremely difficult and doesn’t happen very often, but she has made it look easy night in and night out.”

Callahan, who hails from Bristow, Va., is having the best season of her career in what is her sixth year at the Division I level. She is averaging career highs in scoring (10.9 ppg), rebounds (2.9) and assists (1.9 apg), and she is also shooting a career-best 43.4% from the field. Callahan ranks 18th in the conference in scoring, and her 2.03 3-pointers per game is the fifth-best mark in the league. She leads the conference and ranks 23rd in the country with a .415 3-point field-goal percentage.

“Megan has had the best season of her career by far and has been such a constant presence for us throughout the season,” said Barnes. “She played really hard and consistently on both ends of the ball all season, and I’m so happy the rest of the Horizon League coaches recognized what a great year she has had.”

Youngstown State is the fourth seed in the upcoming 2023 Barbasol Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship. It will host fifth-seeded Northern Kentucky on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the tournament as part of a doubleheader with the YSU men’s basketball team at Beeghly Center.

Track and field

The Youngstown State men’s and women’s track and field teams swept the Horizon League Indoor Champions which concluded on Sunday in Fort Wayne, Ind., on the campus of Purdue Fort Wayne.

League Honors

Men’s Champions – Wyatt Lefker (pole vault), Dominic Perry (shot put), Hunter Christopher (3,000m/5,000m), Jakari Lomax (triple jump) and Luke Laubacher (60m hurdles).

Men’s Runner-Up Finishes – Ryan Meadows (5,000m), Trenton Shutters (800m), Ty Coon (mile), Lonnie Harper (high jump), Dominic Perry (weight throw), Dorian Chaigneau (pole vault) and DMR – Keegan Barnette, Jack Wilcoxson, William Hanchosky, Coon.

Women’s Champions – Olivia Jones (high jump/pentathlon), Nia Williams-Matthews (triple jump), Jahniya Bowers (60m, 200m), Morgan Cole (3,000m/5,000m).

Women’s Runner-Up Finishes – Madison Murry (60m hurdles), Kyndia Matlock (200m), Emma Etzwiler (pole vault), Melana Schumaker (pole vault).

Men’s Award Winners – Hunter Christopher (co-Outstanding Running Performer), Trenton Shutters (Running Freshman of the Meet), Blake Sifferlin (Field Freshman of the Meet), Brian Gorby (Coach of the Year)

Women’s Award Winners – Morgan Cole (Outstanding Running Performer), Olivia Jones (co-Outstanding Field Performer), Brian Gorby (Coach of the Year)

Men’s Horizon League Championship Notes

The men’s team raced to their eighth straight league title and ninth overall, scoring the third highest point total in program history with 221 points and winning by a 73-point differential

Won six event titles (pole vault, shot put, 3,000m, 5,000m, 60m hurdles, triple jump) and had six runner-up performances.

Scored at least 200 points for the sixth straight event.

Hunter Christopher became the third Penguin to be named Outstanding Runner of the Meet (Kurt Michaelis – 2002, Chad Zallow – 2017-18-19).

Christopher gave the program two wins in the 3,000m in the last three years. YSU has doubled its win total in that event over that span.

Christopher became just the third Penguin to win the 5,000m win joining Ryan Meadows (2021) and Eric Rupe (2013-14).

Christopher was the first HL athlete since Oakland’s Bryce Stroede (2016) to win both the 3,000m and 5,000m.

Jakari Lomax became the first athlete to win four consecutive triple jump titles.

Wyatt Lefker’s victory extends YSU’s reign in the pole vault competition to six straight seasons

Dominic Perry logged his second career shot put championship with the other coming in 2021.

Luke Laubacher became the fifth Penguin to win the 60m hurdles joining Collin Harden, Chad Zallow, Adam Lewis and Jerrill Hall.

Brian Gorby was named the Coach of the Year for the eighth straight year and 10th time overall

Women’s Horizon League Championship Notes

The women trailed by 25 points after the first day of competition and at one point were down by 34 points on Sunday before rallying for the win.

The Guins scored 178 points, their fewest in a victory since 2015. The four-point win over the Panthers tied for the second-closest margin in HL history.

YSU won eight event titles (60m, 200m, mile, 3000m, 5000m, high jump, triple jump and pentathlon).

Posted runner-up finishes in the 60m hurdles, pole vault, and 200m.

Morgan Cole repeated as the HL Champion in the 3,000m and the 5,000m while also adding the mile title. She is the only Penguin to win the 3K and one of two to win the 5K.

Cole became the third Penguin to win the mile joining Nicole Squatrito (2022) and Emily Schnitkey (2004).

For the second consecutive year, Jahniya Bowers won the 60m and 200m dashes. YSU has won nine straight 60m titles and 11 of the last 12 200m crowns.

Olivia Jones won her fourth Horizon League pentathlon title after finishing on top of the podium in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. She scored a school-record 3,730 points to win the championship.

Jones won her first Horizon League high jump title and picked up YSU’s first since 2018. It was also Jones’s first career single-event title at the league meet.

Nia Williams-Matthews’s second straight victory in the triple jump punches YSU’s third league title since 2015 and fourth all-time in the event

Coach Brian Gorby received Coach of the Year honors for the 10th time overall.

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