Nearly an Elite 8!

Matt Fischer (just left of center) toes the line.  Photo by Nick Scarpello.

I notice things.  Sometimes I pick up on a meme before others.  Sometimes, it's even significant when I do.  I picked up on this meme several years ago and have trumpeted it before.

Penn State Track and Field Athletes continue to improve during their careers as well as any athletes in any College in the Nation.

Sometimes there are athletes like me who start out with humble talent, and sometimes there are athletes with unbelievable talent.  But invariably,  PSU Track athletes attain their ultimate potential under the current coaching staff as well as anywhere in the US.  Hats off to everyone.

Yesterday, the distance corps demonstrated this on a grand scale at the Stanford Invitational.  All seven (one short of eight, get it?) attained a PR on their first performance of the outdoor season. My congrats to everyone.

1. Matt Fischer   14:01.23  5000 M
2. Tyler Corkedale  14:20.06  5000 M
3. Nick Scarpello  14:23.08  5000 M
4. Natalie Bower  16:12.88  5000 M
5. Tori Gerlach  16:28.51  5000 M
6. Emily Giannotti  34:54.26  10000 M
7. Abbie Benson  10:33.30  3000 M SC

And the real Elite 8 has decimated Montgomery Baskwill's early round prognostication performance.  He's now just an also-ran.  I notice only a couple of Track Alumni Golfers in the top echelon with Zeb Stewart garnering a current 6th place in Ken Cooper's annual pool. Group friend Ron "Bile" Ferguson also seems to be in a drivers seat of sorts, still having his winner in the final eight.

1	12	Rupe, Mark	65
2	(1)	Riter, Christie	64
3	0	Sailer, Aaron	63
4	26	McCarthy, Dennis	63
5	4	Ferguson, Ron	62
6	44	Stewart, Zeb	62
7	3	Angelo, Peter	62
8	4	Radzwich, Claudia	61
9	5	Cardenas, Milton	61
10	5	Dubya, G	61
11	5	Oppenheimer, Hank	61
12	6	Tate, Andy	61
13	49	Cooper, Kevin (2)	60
14	(12)	Cooper, Kyle	60
15	10	Golic, Mike	60
16	54	Wintersteen, Kyle	59
17	10	Sailer, Jackson	59
18	59	Morse, Willie	59
19	(15)	Cooper, Kyle 2	59
20	16	Obama, Barack	59
21	16	Cooper, Kathleen	58
22	20	Smith, Holden	58
23	(17)	Roth, Andy	58
24	62	Jones, Darryl	58