Thanks, Coach.

Matt Groves and David Baskwill asked that I share some thoughts with you all, the Penn State Alumni, the athletes and friends of the program, and that I might be able to impart on you some of my experiences here running for Coach Alford-Sullivan these last four years, and what her departure means to me as one of her final graduated Penn State runners.

Coach Sullivan and a some of the distance crew at the 2013
Stanford Invitational. (From left to right: Matt Fischer,
Tyler Corkedale, Coach Sullivan, Me, Kara Foster,
Natalie Bower, Tori Gerlach, Emily Giannotti,
and Abbie Benson)

First, obviously, I must simply say thank you, Coach. Thank you for your dedication to us, especially for your great leadership of our distance contingency and of our whole program.

Coach's legacy precedes her and I won't detail all of it. But fifteen years, 8 with the men. I was here for half of them and I was a part of a record-high finish for the men's team in the Big Ten. I've watched almost our entire record book be rewritten. We've been ranked in the top ten in the country and I got the special opportunity to travel with the men's cross country team that got us back to the NCAA Championship in 2010. You've affected such great and positive change for Penn State both on the track and in the community. It's been an honor to run for a team that truly embodies the core values you have attempted to instill. Writing about them in a blog could never do them all justice, but I will try to at least get us started.

I know for certain that if she was asked to list her core beliefs or mottos, these would undoubtedly have to be included:

1)”Don’t miss the moment.”

One of her favorite lines leading up to every conference and NCAA championship. It all started when I was a freshman at the Penn State Indoor National. I just got done running one of the best mile runs of my life, winning the slow heat. Before I could celebrate too much or start to walk over to my gear, Coach had me by the shirt.

"Good Scarp, now don't miss the moment. I want you to watch this next race and learn something. You're about to watch a very special mile."

The next thing to happen was that Ryan Foster, rabbitted by Luke Watson, crossed the line in 3:58— good for a school record and Penn State's first ever sub-four minute mile indoors. I was so excited I thought my head was about to explode. At the time, believe it or not, I had never actually dreamed I would witness a sub four minute mile in college, let alone by a teammate!

Coach Sullivan made sure I didn't miss the moment. Coach Sullivan told us being a part of these moments was our choice— to live in it, or to wish that you had, as both a competitor and a teammate. Wake up. Look alive. Dream with your eyes open and live in this moment. One of Coach Sullivan’s favorite quotes comes from T.E. Lawrence, author of Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”

2) “Have Penn State Pride in all that you do.”

Every school talks about pride. But the depth of the pride here is different. Coach Sullivan wanted every athlete to feel the weight that this name carried.

"For each of you there's got to be at least 100 other kids at this school that want to do what you do and think that they have what it takes to represent your school and your team. Trust me— I get emails from them every day."

Coach demanded we treat it as a privilege, and took a moment to recognize pride for our program everywhere that she saw it. Back in the spring we had our senior recognition ceremony before Jim Thorpe Invite on the infield of Ashenfelter Track. There in the stands stood not only my Mom and Dad watching it, but also a few Aunts and Uncles, my Grandmother, and two little cousins. Maybe some people thought it was a little unusual. “Why is Scarp’s family here? It’s just Jim Thorpe – not that big a deal.”

Coach Sullivan knew that it wasn't unusual at all actually. She has known from day one and appreciated the way my families here at Penn State and at home are so intertwined. My mother Beth, along with her seven brothers and sisters, were all Penn Staters. At school many of them knew my Dad, and his nine siblings, because they too were all Penn Staters. I myself have attended school here with six different cousins and with my brother Justin. My brother Pat starts his freshman year at main campus this fall.

Grandmom (MaryAnn) Scarpello and I at my senior sendoff. Grandmom and my Grandfather Joe (Pennsylvania State College '38 Alumnus) raised 10 proud Penn Staters: their names Joe, John, Jim, Jeff, Jerome, Jude, Jason, Janine, Josh, and Jeremy. Jerome gave birth to the first grandson, Justin (my brother, named in honor of my late Uncle) and he graduated Penn State this past December with a degree in Supply Chain.

Joe Paterno, whom Coach Sullivan identifies as one of her great teachers and mentors, always preached that you play for the name on the front of your jersey. Coach must have taken that lesson from Joe and applied it one step further. She knew that any Scarpello, with our storied history, was proud to be playing for that name on the back. Throughout my time here at Penn State I was beyond honored to race for both the Scarpello family and the Penn State family names.

3) "Be a good teammate."

Coach wanted our teams to be close like family. Combining the men's and women's programs, in her eyes, was only the first step. Coach Sullivan knew that every name on this carried with it a one-of-a-kind story that added meaning and depth to the significance of our ties to Penn State Track & Field. Coach knew every athlete's story. She made it a point to do so. Meanwhile, Coach held us accountable for doing the same. In my time here, I watched our team finally internalize this value before my very eyes.

"If your race is over, we need you over by the backstretch cheering for the Javelinas. If you're in line at the snack bar while everyone's over here hootin' and hollerin' in the stands, I'm going to be asking you what you're doing."  (-Or something like that)

"Jumpers: you ever stop and talk to one of the throwers in the locker room? 'Hey, ol' Wilbur, how was practice? How many thousand pounds did you squat today?'"

"Ask yourself how engaged are you in this Big Ten Drive? Because when it's noon time on Saturday, it's game on, gamers. We need to be rocking and roaring on this BTD, and it starts right NOW, Penn State!"

Here at Penn State, it is a prerequisite that newcomers learn track & field is NOT an individual sport. Not on this team. If you ever had trouble understanding that, Coach knew how to quickly get you up to speed.

4) "Honor our tradition."

Coach Sullivan would have been remiss to had not recounted the great accomplishments of some individuals:  Ashenfelter, Franek, Fredericks, Mills, Ewell, Moore, the list goes on. That day after the senior send-off ceremony, I did a walkabout of the Ashenfelter Track accompanied by my two younger cousins. As we walked beneath those banners that our team hung just two years ago, I pointed up at the black and white photos of national champions. I was able to recite many of their stories and accomplishments. Coach was the one who taught me this history. She would just point up at the banners one day while we were stretching down after a run and start talking about Larry Shields or Shana Cox. I didn't necessarily ask to learn, at least not at first— I think she just figured, hey, people really ought to know about these guys and gals. They did some pretty cool stuff. Four years later I'm still craving to learn more.

Coach printed out this black and white photo for everyone on the XC squad in 2011. The 1942 XC National Champs. "Hang it in your dorm room," she said. "Be glad I don't make you wear the singlets that the freshmen in this photo are wearing." (In case the photo is too grainy, there are at least 10 singlets that
contain the single word "FRESHMAN" emblazoned across the chest.)

TIME LAPSE:  58 years later, I too stood alongside my XC teammates as a wide-eyed
freshman taking our annual Lion Shrine photo. 

5) “Every day for 15 years I have awakened with your dreams, your aspirations and your goals pushing me to be better at what I do.”

One of the very first things Coach will tell you about herself is that she likes a challenge. Well, Coach, you certainly came to the right place because we gave you plenty of them. Never mind all the great challenges placed upon Penn State Athletics these last two and a half years. Every challenge that the members of this team endured, whether brought to us by an opponent or brought upon ourselves, Coach also endured. She shared our burdens in self-doubt, injury, discipline, motivation, stress at home, stress at school, anything. Her willingness, her eagerness, to carry that enormous weight placed upon her, by addressing these incredible challenges each and every day is what made her such a great leader of the Penn State Track & Field family. Four years later I understand now the lesson she has always tried to instill in us about never giving up on the dreams you set out to accomplish.

Coach never gave up on us, and so we learned to never give up on each other. I would be lying to say everyone always got along. At moments my teammates and I fought like siblings. But that's what families do. And Coach Sullivan, you helped make that experience of a true (and competitive!) track family real for us. Thank you for sharing our dreams, and for teaching me and so many others what it takes to be a true Penn Stater. Thank you for your service to the team. Your time with the team doesn't end, it just changes.

Wishing you all the best at Tennessee, Coach. You will be greatly missed.