Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Youngstown State’s Collin Harden competes in the 100-meter dash on Saturday in the WATTS after frigid temperatures forced running events in a YSU home track & field meet to be moved indoors. Harden, in his fifth year at YSU, came back to complete his eligibility after spring sports were canceled last year.
The Girard High School grad turned Youngstown State star didn’t know if he was going to come back to school after the COVID-19 pandemic ended the sports season last year, just weeks after Harden and his team won the Horizon League indoor track title.
He made his return to the track a few weeks ago at North Carolina State, but his homecoming Saturday afternoon proved unusual.
Instead of showing off his speed at Farmers National Bank Field, frigid temperatures forced the running, jumps and pole vault all indoors within the Watson and Tressel Training Site — throwing events were still held outdoors in the Smokey Hollow neighborhood.