Outstanding, esp considering Chad is a Freshman.
From the Vindy:
"At the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday, one Youngstown State competitor barely edged his way to first-team All-American status, while the other narrowly missed out.
Penguins freshman Chad Zallow — the former Warren JFK standout — finished ninth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.77 seconds. His mark missed the finals-qualifying top-eight by .006 seconds, capping his indoor season with second-team All-American honors.
“It’s definitely disappointing that I just missed it by a couple thousandths of a second,” Zallow said. “But it just gives me more motivation for the outdoor season and something to shoot for.”
YSU senior Connor Neu notched a distance of 21.47 meters (70 feet, 5.25 inches) in the weight throw finals. The mark was good for eighth place, giving him first-team All-American honors.
“I wouldn’t say I’m happy, but I definitely got the job done,” Neu said. “The immediate goal was to make first-team and then the long-term goal was to place high. That didn’t happen today, but at least I was able to walk out with first-team.”
This was Neu’s second time at nationals with YSU, as he was a second-team All-American in the weight throw at the 2014 outdoor tournament.
Zallow qualified for nationals by running a 7.69 at the Zips Invitational in early February. He wasn’t thrilled with his performance on Friday.
“It wasn’t the best race in the world,” Zallow said. “I’ve definitely ran better than that most of all season. I didn’t have quite the best start — the guys got out on me and I started to come back a little bit. Still, overall, it was a pretty good time. But I definitely would have liked to do better.”
The former Eagle wraps his first indoor season with plenty of honors.
Zallow broke and improved YSU’s 60-meter hurdle record five times and was named the Horizon League Male Alfreeda Goff Track Athlete of the Year. He also won the event’s conference title, placed first in the Horizon League’s 60-meter dash and helped lead the YSU men to their first indoor conference championship since 2003.
He said Friday’s experience should only benefit him in the future.
“It was just great to get this experience running against some of the best guys in the NCAA — some of them being the tops of the world,” Zallow said. “It’s a great experience to have and it’s an eye opener. “It was good to see and know that I still have some work to do. So I’m motivated for the outdoor season and I’m thinking that should go a lot better now that I have this experience under my belt.”
Neu, who transferred to YSU from Kentucky in 2014, rewrote the Penguins record book twice this season in the weight throw. He joins former YSU weight-thrower Bobby Grace in achieving All-American honors, although Grace only earned second-team in 2012.
“I remember the first time I went to nationals two years ago, the whole structure of the environment threw me off,” Neu said. “It’s something different than normal meets. But I think being exposed that second time this year, it will lead me really well to, hopefully, nationals again in outdoor.” "
http://www.vindy.com/news/2016/mar/12/ysus-neu-places-th-at-ncaa-nationals/