UPDATE FRIDAY MORNING: Due to winter storm issues, the Mike Kowal Multi Meet at Edinboro has been canceled. SRU will only compete Friday at the YSU Icebreaker this weekend.

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University will open the 2024-25 indoor track and field season this weekend with 59 student-athletes set to compete Friday at Youngstown State University for the YSU Icebreaker.
 
OPENING WEEKEND
The Rock will send 59 student-athletes to Youngstown State University Friday afternoon for the YSU Icebreaker at the Watson and Tressel Training Site (WATTS). A separate group of eight multi-event athletes were scheduled to compete Saturday and Sunday at Edinboro, but that meet was canceled Friday due to heavy winter storms.
 
YSU MEET INFO - FRIDAY, DEC. 6
• Rolling time schedule to begin at 1 p.m.
• Live Results Link
• Complete Event Schedule
• Heat Sheets / Meet Program
• $10 admission
• $5 parking
 
MIKE KOWAL MULTI-EVENT MEET INFO
• CANCELED
 
PSAC/NCAA QUALIFYING STANDARDS
• 2024-25 Qualifying Standards
 
COLLEGE TEAMS COMPETING AT YSU
Baldwin-Wallace, Bethany, California (Pa.), Carnegie Mellon, Chatham, Clarion, Davis & Elkins, Duquesne, Edinboro, Frostburg State, Indiana (Pa.), Kent State, Mount Union, Ohio Christian, Pitt-Johnstown, Pittsburgh, Point Park, Rio Grande, Seton Hill, Slippery Rock, St. Vincent, Walsh, Washington & Jefferson, Waynesburg, West Liberty, West Virginia, Westminster, Wheeling, Youngstown State
 
MEN'S QUICK PREVIEW
The Rock will send 26 men to Youngstown Friday to compete in 13 individual events and one relay.
 
Slippery Rock will be led on the opening weekend by six returning All-Region performers from last winter in the form of Matthew Crow (sprints and hurdles), Joshua Gose (throws), Drew Layton (pole vault), Bradon Schneider (pole vault), AJ Virata (sprints) and Seaton Wozniak (throws).
 
Gose has been All-Region in the shot put in each season of his career and he and Wozniak enter this winter with aspirations of reaching the national meet in the event.
 
Layton is coming off a stellar freshman campaign that saw him advance to the national championships in the pole vault outdoors. He and Schneider are both set for their sophomore years and are expected to again be among the best vaulters in the Atlantic Region.
 
Virata and Crow are back to lead the way on the track. Crow won PSAC titles in the 60-meter hurdles indoor and the 110-meter hurdles outdoor and Virata was among the best all-around sprinters in the region a year ago, winning the PSAC title indoor in the 200m on the way to his second meet MVP honor. They will be joined by fellow top sprinters Jacob Thompson and Micah Good.
 
Ryan Corbitt returns to lead SRU this weekend in the 800-meter run where he will be joined by newcomer Nate Pitzer. Joey Cintavey is set to be the lone distance runner racing this week and is entered in both the mile and 3,000-meter run.
 
Other newcomers expected to make a mark in their SRU debuts this weekend include jumpers Matt Mallon and Jason Alderson, who will join Ian James in the horizontal jumps while Grady Cobb represents SRU in the high jump.
 
SRU MEN'S TOP ENTRIES AT YSU
• 60m Dash: AJ Virata
• 200m Dash: AJ Virata, Jacob Thompson
• 400m Dash: Micah Good, Jacob Thompson
• 800m Run: Ryan Corbitt, Nate Pitzer
• Mile Run: Joey Cintavey
• 3,000m Run: Joey Cintavey
• 60m Hurdles: Matthew Crow, Darien Malawi
• 4x400m Relay: Kadin Johnson, Jacob Thompson, AJ Virata, Kyle Rauchut
• HJ: Grady Cobb
• PV: Drew Layton, Bradon Schneider
• LJ: Matt Mallon, Jason Alderson
• TJ: Ian James, Jason Alderson
• SP: Joshua Gose, Seaton Wozniak
• WT: Zach Gose, Joshua Rohland
 
MEN'S ENTRIES – MIKE KOWAL MULTI
• Heptathlon: Logan Anderson, Jacob Stucchio, Zack Duda, Ethan Folmer
 
WOMEN'S QUICK PREVIEW
On the women's side, Slippery Rock will send 33 women to Youngstown State to compete in 12 individual events and one relay.
 
The Rock will be led at YSU Friday by a pair of returning All-Region honorees in Samantha Gilbert (sprints, long jump) and Aleks Brozeski (jumps).
 
Gilbert and Regan Johnson are set to lead the way in the short sprints and enter this winter coming off a blazing outdoor season in which they ran the two fastest 100-meter times in SRU history last spring. Gilbert will also jump in the long jump this weekend, where she was All-Region a year ago.
 
Brozeski was All-Region in the triple jump last year and is set to do both horizontal jumps this weekend. She enters this winter looking for a second PSAC title in the triple jump. She will be joined in the triple jump by Alice Bogia, who also has NCAA qualifying potential in the event.
 
Newcomer Jianna Long and returner Lydia Reed will lead the way in the long sprints this weekend and Ruthie Hughes will lead the distance runners as she comes off an All-Region cross country season this fall.
 
Chaley Younkin is back to lead the hurdlers and will be joined by debut performer Erin Schaeffer at YSU.
 
The vertical jumps will be paced by pole vaulters Allie Taylor and Hanna Zeiler along with high jumpers Cassidy Davis and Paige Griffith with Griffith set to return from an injury that sidelined her for the 2023-24 season.
 
Olivia Heckman and Becca Martin enter this winter with All-Region hopes in the shot put and will both be in action this weekend. Martin will also throw the weight, where she will be joined by Savannah Schneck.
 
SRU WOMEN'S TOP ENTRIES AT YSU
• 60m Dash: Samantha Gilbert, Regan Johnson
• 200m Dash: Samantha Gilbert, Regan Johnson
• 400m Dash: Jianna Long, Lydia Reed
• 3,000m Run: Sydney Pitcovich
• 5,000m Run: Ruthie Hughes
• 60m Hurdles: Chaley Younkin, Erin Schaeffer
• 4x400m Relay: Alice Bogia, Jianna Long, Shannon McCullough, Annasophia Stauffer
• HJ: Cassidy Davis, Paige Griffith
• PV: Allie Taylor, Hanna Zeiler
• LJ: Samantha Gilbert, Aleks Brozeski
• TJ: Aleks Brozeski, Alice Bogia
• SP: Olivia Heckman, Becca Martin
• WT: Savannah Schneck, Becca Martin
 
RECAPS AND FINAL RESULTS
Recaps and final results from the Youngstown State meet will be posted to www.RockAthletics.com late Friday night or Saturday morning, depending on when final results are available from the meet.
 
UP NEXT
Friday's meet will mark the only competition for the rest of the 2024 calendar year for The Rock, which will take a long break for finals and the holidays before returning to action Jan. 25 at the Ashland Invitational.




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