The Ice Palace (Greenberg Indoor Complex) Was a Tough Place to Run!

At the recent Indoor Penn State National Indoor Meet at the Ashenfelter Indoor Complex, we had a great conversation with Coach Groves about many things.   One thing I brought up was how hard it was to run on the 10 lap-to-the-mile track, especially in the cold!  Several of us also opined that PSU would have had many more sub-4 milers if we had a track like we do now. Coach Groves was quite vociferous in shooting me down, saying that our Ice Palace was "as good a facility as any one else had at the time."

BUT...

One of our newer members, Tim Webb, posted an old article from the Centre Daily Times about an indoor meet in 1990 where Coach seemed to let on that running may, in fact, be a little more difficult on the frigid oval! Tim won both the high jump and the triple jump! (And here's another clipping of  another meet from Tim mentioning many more PSU Track Alumni Golfers!)

Tim Webb, still in shape!

"The Lions, however, failed to qualify anyone in the 500-meter run via the 600-yard run. Coach Harry Groves said the track at the Indoor Sports Complex is hard to run on.
"The shorter the race, the tougher it is," Groves said.He added that longer races are not as affected by the small size and tight turns of the track, because longer races are run slower."

But giving Coach his due, he meant for the shorter distances in that quote.  So I'm still shot down by Coach Groves!  A place that seems quite familiar at the very least.

We will have another chance at a discussion with Coach Groves on many topics for a future Podcast during the Reunion and Golf Tourney weekend.  Be sure to sign up and join us.