Another Award For 800U!

 As the final qualifier for the NCAA Indoor Championship 800M Final, Handal Roban ran a very nice race, finishing in 4th place.  With the disqualification of the lead runner because of his severe swerve into second lane, impeding the surging Texas runner, he ends up in 3rd place! 1:47.28 at altitude.

Ryan Foster, Handal Roban and Coach John Gondak

Details Of The 2023 Reunion and Golf Tourney

 

A Major Award!

 

And I mean way more major than the Leg Lamp on A Christmas Story...

Our very own European Liaision, Brian Boyer is being awarded an 2023 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award in State College next week. I take this opportunity to congratulate him for bringing this honor to our group.

Some things about Brian some of you might not know:

• He began his career in State College in 1976, earning degrees in 1980, 1985 and 1992.
• He is the only PSU Track Alumni Golfer that likes trains more than Dave Felice.
• He has won the Coach Harry Groves Golf Tournament twice without knowing how to golf.
• His 5000M Indoor PR is better than mine.  I am unaware of any other distances where this may apply.
• He is retiring in a few weeks from the IAEA.  I'm pretty sure it's only because they have rules making 65 year-olds retire.
• He will be returning to State College is some capacity in the coming months.
• He is beloved by members of Penn State Track Alumni Golfers from 4 generations.

If you can check out the award ceremony next week, get some pics for my Interns here at the Blog With It All. 

Brian with Coach Schwarz and his wife Myrna a few years ago in Vienna.

A One And A Two...

 

PSU Track Alumni (Golfers) snagged one National Championship and a runner-up spot at the recent Indoor Championships out west.

Joe Kovacs won the Shot Put with a toss of 21.55M (70' 8.5")

Isaiah Harris placed second in the 800M with  1:46.42.

Rachel Fatherly placed 5th in the Shot Put with 17.47M (57' 3.75")

Morgan Shigo placed 8th in the Weight Throw with 22.30M (73' 2")

 

Coach Schwarz Scholarship

Bob Radzwich sent this along:

Hey all,

I saw a few posts on this but not sure if everyone knows the following.

I wanted to let you all know that Terry Losch from Rapid Transit is helping start a track and field memorial fund for Gary Schwartz a former women’s coach at PSU who many of us all at least heard of. Gary has been battling cancer knows this fund at PSU has been started and has expressed his appreciation. He also is directing that once it is endowed to distribute funds that those go to a deserving walk on. Please google Gary and you will see he was an outstanding coach and person.

Fund can be sent for PSU track and field to

Donor and Member Services

2583 Gateway Drive

Suite 130

Bristol Place 1

State College, PA 16801

Put for Gary Schwartz Memorial fund if you wish to contribute

Or

Http://raise.PSU.edu/garyschwartz

Thanks,

Bob

Chairman Of The Board

 

It has been a rough year for Disney.  A 44% drop in market value and criticism of its current path have left the leaders in disarray.  Visiting this past week, I noticed many signs of this perturbation.  Actual stalled projects and notices of others being axed entirely.  A few empty storefronts, and news of long term tenants announcing closure.

Stepping into this mix will be one of our own.  Mark Parker, ex-CEO of Nike Inc. will become the new Chairman of Disney's Board. Let's wish him well in finding a CEO who will guide Disney in a direction for stability and sustainability.  Goofy, Dopey, and the rest of the gang possibly in the mix for a new shoe contract?

Happy New Year

 May you always find the Titleist you seek.

Coaches Influenced By Coach Groves Have Good Memories

My recent foray into a 1977 XC meet was met with agreement and embellishment from two other participants that day. No corrections of facts presented and further elucidation of the particulars came from both of them.

Mason, OH State Champion XC Coach Tom Rapp remembers that the meet was mostly a dual meet against powerful Georgetown held on neutral turf in Williamsburg, VA.  He also remembers that our first man had to break up the threatened 1-2-3 finish of Georgetown studs for us to have a chance at the meet and a trip to the NCAA Championships!  This was before the current system of Prelim meets and such.

Then John Ziegler chimed in with the fact that he was in fact the first man battling it out against all 3 of them.  John remembers the games and tactics they used, which weren't always legal.  But John overcame the odds and finished 2nd, allowing our remaining corps of harriers to seal the victory from the favored Hoyas.  Tom also verified my seemingly made up assertion that we ran 18 miles that day.

I forgot to ask both of them if they remember KKOB's GI issues during the whole trip.  But Ziggy does remember singing Earth, Wind and Fire tunes much to the dismay of Mike Wyatt and Coach Groves.

 

Robby Creese Extends His Remarkable Range And Answers Our Dreaded 10 Questions!

 Robby Creese won the recent Baltimore Marathon after deciding to enter it just one day before!

5 mile	00:28:03 05:36 min/mi
10 mile	00:56:06 05:36 min/mi
15 mile	01:22:37 05:30 min/mi
20 mile	01:49:54 05:29 min/mi
Elapsed	02:26:45
Pace	05:36 min/mile

1.What were the circumstances that brought you to PSU? .

     I liked PSU and felt that it was a good fit after my visit with the team.

2. Outside of XC/Track, what was your favorite part of the State College experience?

     I liked my classes and the academic challenge in both under grad and grad school.

3. Did you have any favorite or least favorite workouts?

     My least favorite workout was the uphill, mountain tempo at Whipple's dam.  My favorite workout     was 300 repeats.

4. Outside of your major, what was your favorite class?

    Inart 110 was probably my favorite class outside of my major because we watched a lot of TV.

5. What was your post-graduate time like in State College?

     It was nice but really busy with classes, research, teaching, running, and volunteering with the team.

6. What performance are you most proud of?

     I'm most proud of the DMR at indoor nationals during my sophomore year.

7. What were your favorite training sites or running routes?

     I definitely liked tracks, Scotia, and workouts on the track.

8. Which, if any, class would you like another crack at?

    I took another crack at numerical analysis during grad school, but none now.

9. Are you self-coached now? And how do you juggle work and running? Yes,

    I'm self coached now. I stay pretty busy but make sure to run immediately after work during the week.

10. Will we see you at one of our Reunions or Golf-Tournaments soon? (Hint, hint )

     Probably and I hope to make it to a few indoor meets too.

A Group Officer* Was There! 2022 B1G Ten XC Championships in Ann Arbor

 The Women placed 6th (of 14) at the event and the Men placed 9th (of 12).

Men:

Women:

 Kileigh Kane led the race past 1 mile and eventually finished 20th as the #1 Lady Lion.

 

And apparently, the Big Ten and Michigan authorities are OK with drones.  As opposed to how I was treated by the various authorities at PSU .  My criminal acts captured the only drone video of a Penn State XC meet a few years ago when Syracuse ruled the Blue/White course.

*All photos by Harry Smith.

2016 Spiked Shoe Invitational

I Barely Escaped

 

It was the middle of October, 1977.  It had snowed in State College the week before.  Lynyrd Skynyrd lost 1/2 their band in a plane crash on Friday, and Saturday morning dawned with 12 skinny geeks getting ready to face William and Mary and Georgetown on the grounds of the Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, VA.

We jogged the entire course before the meet as those close to Coach Groves heard the tale of the escaped lunatic he helped capture back in the day.  A creepy tale while out in the forests of Virginia with the notorious mental facility popping up after every turn in the course.

The meet went well for PSU and we were jubilant as we started off on our warm-down.  Then I realized that we were doing the entire course as the warm-down on these grounds where lunatics dwelled, more than 18 miles of running on race day!   I fell behind and slumped against a tree momentarily, dizzy from a pretty good effort in the race.  Coming to quickly, I had to summon more effort to catch back up to the group than I had during the race, lest I become another victim of a serial killer.

I was reminded of these circumstances because of this news report yesterday!

 https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/eastern-state-hospital-escapee-taken-in-custody/

 

Maybe another generation of runners can live my experience anew!

The Good Doctor Has Excellent Range

 

Robby Creese continues to win races wearing his Alumni Singlet.   This time it was the Charm City 20-Miler.  Last we checked it was the Frederick Mile.  That's excellent range.