The Men Had To Get A Word In On 800U This Weekend

 First, Brannon Kidder didn't run in the USATF Championships.  So he found himself running the Mile at the Boston University Last Chance Meet.  There were fireworks aplenty in the race as Josh Kerr set the British Indoor Record and 2 Oregon chaps ran under 3:55.  That places Evan Dorenkamp near the cut-off to make the Mile at the NCAA Championships!  Fingers crossed.

Brannon ran 3:54.91.  Is that the Alumni Record?  The Interns are useless.

5

KIDDER, Brannon

Brooks Beasts

3:54.91

30.13 28.25 29.58 29.11 (30.13) (58.37) (1:27.94) (1:57.05) 28.33 28.94 29.09 31.52 (2:25.37) (2:54.31) (3:23.39) (3:54.91)

 

And Isaiah Harris made his second World Team by placing 2nd to Bryce Hoppel in the 800M at the USATF Championships!  Congrats Isaiah.

New Heights For 800U

Speaking of heights....    PSU garnered second place B1G finishes in both Womens and Mens Pole Vault.  Luke Knipe set another school record with a vault of 17' 8.5"!  Katie Jones placed 2nd and Hailey Zurich placed 4th with identical vaults of 13' 10".

And 5 Nittany Lions scored in the 800M, garnering 78.8% of the available event points. Freshman (which is no longer supposed to be used...)* Allison Johnson won the event in 2:05.18.

*for mom's basement dwellers everywhere.   Wokism

PSU Is 800U: B1G Edition

 5 of 8 Women finalists at the Big Ten Indoor Championships are PSU athletes tomorrow.

Victoria Tachinski

Penn State

2:07.12Q

2

SR

4

Allison Johnson

Penn State

2:07.58Q

4

FR

5

Victoria Vanriele

Penn State

2:06.34q

3

SO

6

Rachel Gearing

Penn State

2:06.85q

1

SR

7

Madaline Ullom

Penn State

2:07.67q

PSU Is 800U: XX Chromosome Division*

*Labeling people as either Men or Women isn't easy anymore, and gets you in trouble with someone no matter how you try to do it.  As a Biology PSU grad, I tend to think in terms of 2 sexes.  As a skinny geek back in the day, I was extremely good at not being able to get the time of day from one of those sexes.  I only discovered the key to getting younger members of the one sex to talk to me in my late 30s while walking my Shih Tzu puppies on Campus from my Efficiency apartment on College Avenue.  Those were the days.  Puppies, nerds, puppies.

But if we can pretend to all agree that there are 2 divisions of athletes in the NCAA that compete against each other, things become a little clearer.  Let's call them Men and Women just so old-timers can be in on the discussions.

For a sizable time frame, the Men at PSU have been the prime drivers of the PSU is 800U phenomenon.  This entails not only the 1980s Penn Relays Record Holders, and the 2000s or so School Record holders, but NCAA champions going back to the 1920s.

It sure is fun seeing what's happening with the Womens 800M runners this year at dear ole State. This is quite literally one of the great outcomes from the 1970s adoption of the Title IX legislation.

Four Nittany Lions have been ranked among the best in the NCAA so far this year in the Indoor Track rankings.

2

Johnson, Allison

FR-1

Penn State

2:02.84

Music City Challenge

8

Tachinski, Victoria

SR-4

Penn State

2:03.83

Music City Challenge

14

Gearing, Rachel

SR-4

Penn State

2:04.22

Music City Challenge

27

Vanriele, Victoria

SO-2

Penn State

2:04.96

Music City Challenge

Looking forward to the Penn Relays!  Hope they bring out the old school singlets for this one!

20th Annual Alumni Reunion And Coach Harry Groves Golf Tournament

 

20^th Annual Penn State Track and Field Alumni Gathering / Harry Groves Golf Outing

(MAY 13 – 14, 2022)

As I normally start these invites, let me first apologize to anyone receiving this notification that may not be interested in attending this event – we’ve done what we could to screen / purge addresses, but unfortunately, it’s not full-proof…                     

This year, the opening reception and dinner will take place at two different venues with the Days Inn closing its doors.  We have moved the host hotel to the Graduate (the old Atherton Hotel at 125 South Atherton Street) – where we have blocks of rooms reserved there for $129 / night (held until April 13) – (reference the Penn State Track and Field Alumni gathering) – phone number there is (844) 888- 4723 (Sara Ghazi is the contact).  As an alternative, the Ramada (1450 South Atherton St – (814) 238-3001) usually has rooms available around $115 (there is no block reserved there however, because we have not had enough people stay there in the past for them to block anything off(!)) –   

FRIDAY’S (MAY 13^th) EVENTS:                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

7:00pm – 10:00pm   Meet and Greet cash bar (hors d ‘oeuvres will be provided) - The Graduate Hotel                                                                                                                                    

50-50, Putting contest, other games TBD (bar crawl sure to follow)

SATURDAY (MAY 14^th) EVENTS: 

9:00am – 10:30am   - The Numbnutz Alumni Triathlon held at the outdoor track – Scoring will be 5 for first, 3 for

second, 1 for third – winner determined by most points earned in all three events (Events yet to be    determined but accepting any crazy ideas you may have!).    

12:00pm – 5:30pm   The Golf outing will be held at the Mountain View Country Club (old Elks Club) again this

year with the putting contest taking place at 11:15.  If you need clubs, there are always folks bringing extra sets so you don’t have to worry about renting (be sure to let us know when you register, so we can plan to have them there).

1:00pm – 3:00pm   Activities for those not golfing (Depending upon weather and volunteers), we will have a

group gathering to hike Mt. Nittany or take a campus tour (either to the Creamery or the Sports Museum (may be an additional cost)).  Meeting spot(s) and tour guide(s) to be announced Friday night – leaving from the hotel lobby.  Vivian Riddick will not be attending this year because her daughter is graduating so we’re looking for volunteers!

7:00pm – 10:00pm   Dinner reception and awards ceremony for golf outing will take place at THE HYATT PLACE 

(219 West Beaver Avenue)

 

Costs / Fees:

$450 / FAMILY (all under one roof) – All Events                                                                                                                  $400 / FAMILY – Saturday only – All Events                                                                                                                                         

 $400 / FAMILY – All Events (with only one golfer)                                                                                                                 $250 / FAMILY – Both Nights – No Golf                                                                                                                                  $200 / FAMILY – Friday Night Only                                                                                                                                         $350 / SENIOR (67 or Older) FAMILY – All Events      $300 (with only one golfing)                                                      $250 / SENIOR FAMILY – All Events - No Golf                                                                                                                       $300 / PERSON – All Events                                                                                                                                                      $200 / PERSON – All Saturday Events                                                                                                                                      $150 / PERSON – All Events – No Golf                                                                                                                                     $100 / PERSON – Golf only                                                                                                                                             

$250 / SENIOR PERSON – All Events                                                                                                                                      $175 / SENIOR PERSON – All Saturday Events                                                                                                                      $150 / SENIOR PERSON – All Events – No Golf                                                                                                                      $100 / SENIOR PERSON – Golf Only                                                                                                                               FLYING IN – DROP $100 off your fees                                                                                                                                     

 RECENT GRAD (past three years) – DROP 25% off your fees                                                                                             

 OLYMPIAN – COMPLEMENTARY – and thanks for attending!                                                                                           

 PAYING BY PAYPAL – WILL ADD $10 to cover the fees  Must go to the full website for the PayPal buttons at the very top.  Choices galore!                                                                                                    

 QUESTIONING THE METHODOLOGY BEHIND THE COSTS – DOUBLE YOUR CHARGE                                                      

NON- REFUNDABLE FEES – IF YOU CANCEL, OR IF THERE IS A WEATHER RELATED CANCELATION – ALL MONIES WILL THEN BE CONTRIBUTED DIRECTLY TO THE PENN STATE TRACK PROGRAM                                                            

This event is open to men, women, and friends (or enemies) of PSU alumni and of course the Alumni themselves - the more the merrier!  This is all about the laughs and brother/sisterhood.  Remember, when it comes to considering golf, you will have three other hackers on your team to laugh at so don’t worry about how bad your game is! 

Donations / Gifts are happily accepted if you would like to help us defer some of our costs as we contribute all proceeds to the current program.

Please send checks or money orders to:

Harry Smith                                                                                                                                                                                          2040 Central Grove 

Toledo, OH  43614

PayPal option available again this year on the top of the full Blog/website   – if utilizing PayPal it will include another $10 to your total as mentioned above to defer the extra charges.

If you should have any other questions or comments, please let me know – Hope to see you this year!     

Clark Haley ’85   (484) 716-8517

Clarkehaley@yahoo.com

Some Notes On The Early Indoor Season Happenings

 I haven't been able to get to any meets yet this year, but there are some interesting things happening already with the teams and alums.

• Women's 800M - Freshman Allison Johnson ranks #1 in the early season with her 2:04.03 and Senior Victoria Tachinski right behind her in 6th with 2:04.68
• Rachel Gearing and Victoria Vanriele add 21st and 23rd rankings in the 800M which makes for a very robust 4 x 800M relay squad.
• Allison Johnson backs up her 800M with an additional #1 ranking in the 1000M and a #17 in the Mile!
  
• The Men have 2 Freshman 800M runners with 1:49 times in their young seasons, Olivier Desmeules and Darius Smallwood.
• Evan Dorenkamp won a highly contested 1 Mile with the nation's #14 time with a Nittany Lion #3 all-time of 3:57.15. He also has the nation's #2 time in the 1000M!
• Freshman Korbin Martino blistered a 46.57 400M for an 11th NCAA best.
• Alum Colin Abert ran a 7 second PR in the 3000M, dipping under 8:00 for the first time.