YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Ashley Melvin and
Kyra Arendt both were crowned Horizon League Champions and earned championship awards on the final day of the 2020 Horizon League Indoor Championships on Sunday, Mar. 1, at Youngstown State.
"I'm extremely happy with how the teams performed this weekend and with the overall energy," Head Coach
Andrew Basler said, "I really felt that the entire team supported each other even if things didn't go right they were still there for their teammates which is the culture we are building here, so that was exciting to see."
The Panthers finished third as a team with 123 points, behind first place Youngstown State and Oakland.
"Coming into the meet, I thought both genders had a chance to trophy at second place, but Youngstown State is just too deep and Oakland had a great weekend," Basler added, "They kind of bridged the gap after Saturday and we tried our best to fight with them, but they just had a little bit better of a weekend than us. However, we scored close to 40 more points this year than last year for indoor, so we are definitely moving in the right direction and closing the gaps on Oakland and Youngstown."
Ashley Melvin, named Athlete of the Year, had no problem clearing the high jump bar through 1.73m (5-8), which would secure her the title, but then the senior jacked the bar up to attempt 1.81m and had good looks but couldn't clear the height.
Annie Guerrero made the 1-2 punch after clearing the high jump bar at 1.70m (5-7) to take the silver.
Kyra Arendt was then crowned the League triple jump champion. Arendt jumped to a mark of 12.31m (40-4 3/4) to sweep the horizontal jumps at the League meet and be named the Field Events Outstanding Performer.
Chieme Udaku also had a big day in the triple jump with a personal record mark of 11.51m (37-9 1/4) to have a top-three finish and take the bronze.
From the ring,
Lauren Lietzke threw for a massive personal record mark of 13.69m (44-11) in her final attempt to take home the silver in the shot put. Lietzke moved her name up on the Panther All-Time Top-10 list to No. 5.
On the track,
Mikayla Fox had another outstanding race in the 3000m to finish runner-up in the event. The senior crossed the line in a personal record time of 9:52.54, which is now the fifth-fastest time in program history.
The Panthers also had many other top performances on the day.
Megan Safranski had a fifth-place finish in the mile (5:08.56) while
Riley Hansen placed fifth in the 800m (2:17.97) and
Mercy Ndon was fifth in the 60m dash (7.73).
Michelle Meyer represented Milwaukee in the 400m to a sixth-place finish in 57.92 and
Emily Burns was sixth in the 3000m (10:07.20).
The 4x400m relay team closed out the championship competition with a fifth-place finish with a time of 3:56.97.
"I am excited as we head to outdoor season, the coaching staff believes we are a better outdoor team than indoor team, so we are looking for the team to build upon the momentum from indoor and gear up for the next couple of months of outdoor season."
UP NEXT ON THE BLOCKS
The League indoor championship marks the conclusion of the indoor season for Milwaukee as a team. MKE will then take to the outdoors with the first outdoor season meet set for Saturday, Mar. 28, at the Carroll Alumni Open.
TEAM SCORES
YSU – 183
Oakland – 150
Milwaukee – 123
IUPUI – 49
Detroit Mercy – 42.5
NKU – 39
CSU – 34.5
UIC – 30
WSU – 12
CHAMPIONSHIP AWARD WINNERS
Alfreeda Goff Women's Athlete of the Year: Ashley Melvin, Milwaukee and Jaliyah Elliott, Youngstown State
Women's Championship Outstanding Performer, Running
: Katlyn Murphy, IUPUI
Women's Championship Outstanding Performer, Fielding: Kyra Arendt, Milwaukee
Women's Freshman of the Year, Running: Jahniya Bowers, Youngstown State
Women's Freshman of the Year, Fielding: Alivia Bentley, Youngstown State
Women's Coach of the Year: Brian Gorby, Youngstown State
