Two Great XC Tune Ups in Central PA

The Nits had a very good start to the season at the Dolan Duels in Lock Haven. Robby Creese defended his individual title and Abbie Benson bettered last year's 2nd place finish with her victory.

 

Lock Haven is a Division III Cross Country paradise.  Their program is very special.  It's great to see the excellent relationship that PSU has with them.

Just after the results from the Dolan Duels beeped onto my phone, I was at another great Division II/III cross country race in Shippensburg, The Galen Piper Challenge*.  I was pleased to see the high level of competitiveness of the race involving large teams from Shippensburg, York College, Elizabethtown, Kutztown and others.  Cross Country is still a wonderful sport, no matter how many Division I schools drop their program.

Personally, the race was the debut of the new Penn State Mont Alto XC teams.  Coach Bill Preston looks to have them on a fine path.  When word gets out to the school population, I expect their numbers to increase.  Daughter the Elder had a good race, and learned a valuable lesson involving pacing in her first college race.

Daughter the Elder with her HS teammate Sam Gehly running for Elizabethtown.

*Possibly the greatest challenge was the bagpiper playing the entire time of both races!

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

"A Very Good First Day"

Here's some updates on the Watch List of PSU entries in the Penn Relays:

1. Mens Championship of America Sprint Medley Relay - Returning Champions!
2. Mens Championship of America 4 x 800 - My favorite event  (Longest standing Event Record at Penn)
3. Mens Championship of America 4 x 400 - The Quintessential Track Event.
4. Womens Championship of America Distance Medley Relay - A School Record Coming? Update:  3rd Place and a School Record! 

   11:08.41

   Rebekka Simko (3:23.0), Ijeoma Iheoma (52.8), Marta Klebe (2:09.8), Kara Millhouse (4:42.8)

5. Womens Championship Javelin - PSU is Javelin U. Update: Lauren Kenney First Place

   48.99m (160-8)  And a Watch!  Laura Loht  3rd 46.09m (151-2)

6. Women's Championship Hammer - Leading Thrower in the Big Ten!  Update:  Melissa Kurzdorfer  for the Win! And a Watch!
   

   62.53m (205-1)

7. Mens Champiopnship Shot Put - A strong duo.

And in addition there were plenty of PR's on the track at distance night!

• Womens 3000M SC  -   Emily Giannotti 2nd Place College Division 10:28.82,   Abbie Benson 5th Place College Division 10:35.5,  Natalie Bower 2nd in Championship Heat 10:14.27, Lindsey Graybill 7th in Championship Division 10:29.97.
• Mens 5000M  -  Kyle Dawson 6th in Championship Division 14:04.36, Vince McNally 8th in Championship Division 14:06.94, Chris Cipro 19th in Championship Division 14:30.43, Matt Fischer 24th in Champuionship Division 14:38.42,  Alums: Dennis Pollow Jr 6th in Olympic Development Division 14.26.68.
• Mens 10000M  -  Tom Luff 18th in Championship Division 30:36.77 Alums: Tyler McCandless 10th in Olympic Development Division 30:33.64.