Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Youngstown State’s Wyatt Lefker competes in the pole vault during the Horizon League Outdoor Championships on May 6 at Covelli Sports Complex.

YOUNGSTOWN — As the saying goes, success breeds success.

There’s plenty of that to go around in Youngstown State’s outdoor track and field programs.

The Penguins completed yet another Horizon League championship campaign recently, as the YSU women earned their ninth consecutive league title with 203.25 points while the men claimed their fourth in a row with 252 points last weekend at the Covelli Sports Complex at Youngstown State.

It marked the seventh overall title for the YSU men, while the women added their 15th overall. The YSU women are six-for-six on winning the conference meet when hosting.

“Each team just continues to get better. Each staff continues to get better. And each kid continues to get better,” said YSU coach Brian Gorby, who is in his 28th season at the helm. “That’s the pretty cool part about it.”

The championships have become an expectation for those who matriculate into the program, according to pole vaulter Wyatt Lefker, who won his fourth consecutive pole vault title — a first at the Horizon League meet. For his efforts, he also was named co-Outstanding Field Performer.

“It’s hard to beat a team that knows how to win. When you’re going against somebody that just knows how to win, it’s hard to beat them, and YSU knows how to win. That’s the culture here. We expect that every year, and that’s just what we do,” Lefker said.

Joining Lefker atop the podium from YSU were: Dominic Perry (shot put), Harry Barton (400 hurdles), Zach Gehm (discus), Lonnie Harper (high jump), Weston McLain (javelin), Jakari Lomax (triple jump) and Luke Laubacher (110 hurdles).

Runners-up were: Ryan Meadows (10,000), Tyler Clark (1,500), Dorian Chaigneau (pole vault), Keegan Barnette (steeplechase), Ryan Henry (shot put) and Mason Stephens (high jump).

Women’s champions included: Nia Williams-Matthews (triple jump), Jahniya Bowers (100, 200), Morgan Cole (5,000, 10,000), Molly Radcliffe (hammer throw), Addi Watts (javelin) and Erin Bogard (pole vault) and the 4×100 relay team consisting of Bowers, Nia Grose, Cyncere Cunningham and Kyndia Matlock. The relay team set a championship record with a time of 45.36.

Runners-up included: Olivia Jones (high jump, javelin, heptathlon), Radcliffe (discus), Lauren Sheehan (shot put) and Esther Solarin (triple jump).

No women’s athletes were available for interviews due to scheduling conflicts.

With yet another set of titles under their belts, the Penguins turned their attention to a couple late-season meets over the weekend to make final pushes for NCAA contention. Williams-Matthews and Harper were at Oakland’s Last Chance Meet, while a bevy of Penguins went to Baldwin-Wallace’s Harrison Dillard Twilight meet. Williams-Matthews won the triple jump on her third try at OU.

NCAA Preliminary selections will be announced Thursday. The East meet is set for May 24-27 in Jacksonville, Fla.

While this year’s crop of Penguins continue to make that push, Gorby is proud of the work the athletes and coaching staff continue to put in.

“We probably put in 100 (hours per week). … When you put in 100-hour weeks — the entire program, the staff, the kids — that ball just seems to bounce your way. Same thing with the championship success. So at the end of the day, there’s a ton of work,” he said. “And the kids really care about this program. They’re very proud.”

In fact, the athletes see it as their duty to continue the success and pass the torch onward.

“I think the reason why YSU is so successful is we want it. All of the coaching staff, all the athletes, everybody has something to defend,” said Lomax, who won his third consecutive title in the triple jump. “It’s bigger than us at this point. We’re fighting for the entire school.”

Having such strong connections to Youngstown and the state of Ohio helps, too. On the women’s side, 34 athletes hail from the Buckeye State, including 13 from the Mahoning Valley. Five are from just across the state line in Pennsylvania.

On the men’s side, 40 athletes are from Ohio, 15 are from the Valley and eight are from nearby counties in Pennsylvania.

It also extends to the coaching staff. Five assistants are YSU grads, and several are Mahoning Valley natives, including Arnolda Morales (Struthers), Eric Rupe (Cortland/Maplewood), Keith Gorby (Boardman) and David Townsend (Youngstown/East).

“This is a strong track area, and Ohio is a strong track state,” Gorby said. “And if you look at our staff, I keep saying they’re Power 5 coaches. … The neat part is they’re from the area, and there’s not a lot of moving parts from that standpoint.”

Success at home has also allowed the Penguins to branch out their efforts. Four athletes on each the men’s and women’s side are international recruits, and YSU also has recruits from a handful of different states.

Eventually, Gorby says, he’d like to see his already nationally relevant program claim a Division I championship, continue to produce more and more All-Americans and rack up more and more league titles.

All of that to continue to achieve the excellence the program has grown into, said Gorby, who also would like to see YSU overtake John McDonnell’s Arkansas programs for the most conference championships. McDonnell won 84.

“It’s cool to see the kids pay it toward the future. They’re kind of telling the (younger) kids that it doesn’t stop with us (older athletes) leaving. They want to see it continue to improve,” Gorby said.

He added, “Tradition never graduates. We’ve gone with that type of mindset. … We keep climbing to keep chipping away and try to get the most championships.”