Ranking of All-Time Best Outdoor Performances of Penn State Track Alumni*

* Performances after PSU eligibility has expired.

The IAAF, or whatever they call themselves now, has a ranking system that can be used to gauge performances across Track and Field times and distances.  This system is very useful, but is only one way to interpret Athletic performances across all the disciplines.

While these tables can never be a definitive measurement of the level of performance
considering the differing opinions among sports statisticians concerning their basis and
method of construction, they do allow us to consistently measure and compare athletes and their performances across the rich variety of event disciplines.

So, I combined our previous compilation of the Event Record Holders in each discipline with the IAAF Scoring Tables.  The results are sometimes surprising.

1.  James Carney       2007                10000M       27:34.64                    1386
2.  Joe Kovacs           2017                Shot Put       74' 0.25"  (22.57M)   1275
3.  Knut Hjeltnes       1985                Discus          228' 5"  (69.62M)      1238
4.  Casimir Loxsom   2015                800M            1:44.92                     1176
5.  Brannon Kidder    2019                1500M          3:35.27                     1171
6.  Barney Ewell        1948                100M            10.1 (ht)                   1170
7.  Mike Shine           1976                400M IH      49.30                         1159
7.  George Malley     1978                 3000M SC   8:21.72                      1159
9.  Lennart Hedmark  1973                Decathlon     8,188 pts.                 1155
10.  Casimir Loxsom  2013                600M            1:14.84                    1154
11.  Mike Sands          1975                200M            20.5                         1143
12.  Mike Shuey         2019                 Javelin          271' 10"  (82.85M) 1141
13.  George Adu        1999                 Long Jump    25' 10.75" (7.89M) 1114
14.  Larry Mangan     1983                Mile               3:56.90                    1113
14.  Alan Scharsu       1985                3000M           7:50.40                    1113
16.  Mike Sands         1976                 400M             46.01                       1111
17.  Mike Shine          1979                110M HH       13.80                      1103
18.  James Carney      2008                5000M           13:31.61                  1097
19.  Casimir Loxsom  2014                1000M           2:19.16                   1092
20.  Ricardo Hall        1995                Triple Jump    53' 7.75" (16.22M) 1082
21.  Dave Kriz            1996                High Jump      7' 0.75" (2.15M)    1046
22.  Dave Masgay       1987                Pole Vault      16' 8.75"                 1021
23.  Alvin Jackson      1979                Hammer         211' 11" (64.60M)   957       

Comments appreciated!                       

A Lull In The Action Means Housecleaning Commences

With not much happening in the Track World, it is time to do a little Spring cleaning, even if it is a little late.  So let's all get to work and crowdsource an updated Penn State Track Alumni Record Book!  Sorry ladies, I don't even know how to begin compiling one for the women.  Maybe an ambitious member of our group will try!!!!    Hint, hint!

But at least we have a starting point for the Men's Records which includes Indoor, Outdoor and Road records.  Matt Groves has done much of the legwork from his dad's notes in the past.  We are certain that our listing needs updating, and that's where you come in.  If we all get together on this we can fully update the listings in no time.

Let's start with the Men's Outdoor List:  Any changes can be made via the Facebook Page or on the comments below.  Please help!

Our first update to the list doesn't change the record, but clarifies it.

(George)Malley's AR was NOT the 8:21.72 you have listed. Henry Marsh had the AR at the time (1978) and it was 8:21.55...Malley's AR was in 1977 at the AAU National Championships at Westwood, CA at 8:22.54.

1978 NCAA XC Championships

This is a repost of Larry Mangan's post to our Facebook page.  This way even the non-FB readers will get to enjoy the goodness!

On a cold (18 degrees), windy, day back in 1978, on the Yahara Hills Golf Course in Madison, Wisconsin, seven intrepid Penn State harriers jumped off the line to begin the start of a fine, three-year period in PSU cross country history. We finished 4th that day in Madison, and would take bronze in each of the next two years. Each Nittany Lion was of regular college age and from NY, PA and OH. Bordering our corral at the start were the very over-aged Cougars and Miners from Washington State and UTEP. Coach Groves was quite delighted when one of his charges, who will go unnamed, in a fit of anxiety and hypothermia, "politely" asked the folks on either side of us to "speak f***ing english". How did 40 years pass so quickly?

   9 Snyder, Robert 29:48
 54 Ziegler, John 30:36
 61 Mangan, Larry 30:41
 73 Baden, Bruce 30:50
113 Rapp, Thomas 31:11
120 Scharsu, Alan 31:19
129 Wyatt, Michael 31:27

Bob Snyder, running with the Big Dogs!

All In The Family

Half of you probably have no idea what that means! But Archie, Edith, Gloria and Meathead never took a run together.

But  Alan Scharsu took his entire family to a 5K Fun/Color Run!

And of course, everybody seems to have won an award.

His daughter won her age group in 28:22.

His son also won his age group in 27:05.

And Alan seems to holding a rather large trophy!

A Cold World Record And My Favorite Comedian

I haven't had much to go on lately and my day job is still far too demanding.  So I have to bring some non-PSU Track stuff to the fore.

First, a world record mile was just set on the Antarctic Continent.  4:17 seems a little slow when I remember Alan Scharsu running a 4:09 in the Ice Palace in 9 degree weather!

And here's a pic of my favorite comedian of all competing in track and field, although from the pic I can only surmise it was the discus event???

Jim Gaffigan walked onto the Purdue football team for his Freshman campaign but then transferred to Georgetown for his remainder of college.  So we can say he was a fellow Big Ten athlete, at least for a bit!

“I have so many fond memories from Purdue,” Gaffigan said. “Most seem to involve walking. I walked onto the football team and walked away after I didn't like getting my head bashed in. I remember walking to some classes that were, for some reason, at 7 a.m., walking to Hardee's at 11:30 at night, finally buying a bike, and then walking after it fell apart after two days. Go Boilers.”

Everybody Else Is Doing The Throwback Thursday Thing

I generally resist the bandwagon.  But when this pic came along of my roommate Alan Scharsu, I decided to jump on and hold on for dear life.

Here he is at the start of the 1979 Junior Cross Country Championships. Smack dab in the middle of it all!

Everybody get in touch with him and get him to return to the Reunion and Golf Outing this year.

Painful Memories!

Greg Fredericks sent me this listing from the days of yore.  I have talked about it several times before but didn't have the entire listing before.  Remember, this was an "extra" race/training run including many milers.  Nothing like this ever happens today. There are numerous things to note:

• I "coached" the 5th, 6th and 7th runners to their first ever run over 15 miles.  I coached them so well that they all beat me when I hit the wall at 20 miles. I made them start slowly and pick it up at each 5 mile mark.  We were in third place behind Alan Sharsu when I dropped like a rock.  Larry Mangan, Mike Wyatt and Tom Rapp all had incredible range from 800M to marathon.
• I managed to stagger home ahead of Liz Berry, hearing the cheers behind me as she set the team record.
• This is the only race where I ever defeated Gary Black.
• Seeing Marc Dunmire defeat Coach Groves with curses in the air was great! (RIP Marc.)
• Psychology Prof Hersh Leibowitz ran 3:25:01 at age 53! (RIP Hersh.)
• The weather is listed as 50 degrees with no wind.  That is a lie.  There was snow on the roads and we all had windburn!
• Greg Fredericks did not run! Just for the record...
• The high number of non-finishers may be due to the 800M guys running only 15 miles???
• The combo of Jim Clelland and Kelly O'Brien gave Alan Scharsu a run for his money!
• Bruce Baden was an animal!

Reconfigured Top PSU Mens Cross Country Runners Of All-Time

It took the Mathematics Intern much more time to perform the meticulous calculations to arrive at the final results of our exercise in divining the best of the best among all Penn State Cross Country runners of all-time than anyone had postulated.  In his defense, the intern is unpaid and subject to a world which is way more complicated than it should be. Anyone wishing to contribute to the coffers of the poor intern can contact me...

In review, here are the original criteria for the list:

The (Original) Criteria:

1. All PSU runners finishing in the top 20 of an NCAA Championship Meet are included.  This, of course skews the results toward the old-timers.  Back before 1973, any team could enter the race, and there were far fewer teams and runners overall. And it ignores someone who placed 21st in 4 straight Championships! Now that would be one Heck of a runner.
2. Points are awarded in a reverse order of their finish.  A 20th place finish is worth 1 point and a first place finish is worth 20 points.  This skews the results toward those that run in multiple NCAA Championships. But placing high still means the most.
3. Tiebreakers: a) # of appearances in NCAAs top 20 and  b) most recent to oldest.

Our New Criteria are then superimposed upon this original list.  The new criteria involves a weighting in an effort to incorporate the competitive strength of each year's race.  Of course any criteria such as this is somewhat subjective and can cause arguments and discussions on its suitability. This is welcome! It is difficult to precisely measure whether a race in 1952 was as difficult to finish in the top 20 as compared to a race in 2006.  But a reasonable estimate can be made simply by noting the number of finishers in the race and compensating for it as compared to a standard number.  In this case the standard is the number of finishers in 1970, the year with the greatest number of runners.

New superimposed Criteria:

• Each year's finishing point total from earlier is multiplied by a factor defined as:

# of Finishers in Race Year (x)

# of Finishers in 1970 (305) 

Here's the Original Top Ten Runners of All-Time:

1. Robert Hollen - 17th 1951, 7th 1952, 6th 1953 for 33 points.
2. Curtis Stone -  7th 1942, 2nd 1946 for 33 points.
3. Alan Scharsu - 19th 1979, 7th 1980, 6th 1981 for 31 points.
4. William Ashenfelter - 8th 1950, 4th 1951 for 30 points.
5. Eric Carter - 9th 1985, 4th 1987 for 29 points.
6. Gerald Karver - 9th 1942, 6th 1947 for 27 points,
7. Norman Gordon - 11th 1941, 5th 1942 for 26 points.
8. Horace Ashenfelter - 19th 1946, 2nd 1947 for 21 points.
9. Greg Fredericks - 4th 1970, 20th 1971 for 18 points.
10. Paul Stemmer - 5th 1975 for 16 points.
11. William Smith - 5th 1938 for 16 points.

And the New Top Ten Penn State Mens Cross Country Runners of All-Time:

1. Alan Scharsu - 19th 1979, 7th 1980, 6th 1981 for 22.2 points.
2. Greg Fredericks - 4th 1970, 20th 1971 for 17.9 points.
3. Eric Carter - 9th 1985, 4th 1987 for 17.1 points.
4. Paul Stemmer - 5th 1975 for 14.1 points.
5. Curtis Stone - 7th 1942, 2nd 1946 for 12.1 points.
6. Robert Hollen - 17th 1951, 7th 1952, 6th 1953 for 11.0 points.
7. Horace Ashenfelter - 19th 1946, 2nd 1947 for 10.5 points. 
8. Gerald Karver - 9th 1942, 6th 1947 for 10.0 points.
9. William Ashenfelter - 8th 1950, 4th 1951 for 9.6 points.
10. Robert Snyder - 9th in 1978 for 9.5 points.

Robert Snyder 1978.

Paul Stemmer 1975.

Alan Scharsu 1978.

Greg Fredericks 1970.

This Isn't The Right Way To Determine The Top Ten PSU Mens Cross Country Runners Of All-Time

In the spirit of the ole bar room arguments like "Who is the greatest baseball player of all-time?" (It's Pete Rose BTW!), I have concocted a ridiculous look back at the history of PSU Cross Country to try to determine the top echelon of runners.  These sorts of things are always subject to the vagaries and whims of whomever is defining the criteria.  Others can vehemently disagree.  Which is usually the whole point of the exercise.

The Criteria:

1. All PSU runners finishing in the top 20 of an NCAA Championship Meet are included.  This, of course skews the results toward the old-timers.  Back before 1973, any team could enter the race, and there were far fewer teams and runners overall. And it ignores someone who placed 21st in 4 straight Championships! Now that would be one Heck of a runner.
2. Points are awarded in a reverse order of their finish.  A 20th place finish is worth 1 point and a first place finish is worth 20 points.  This skews the results toward those that run in multiple NCAA Championships. But placing high still means the most.
3. Tiebreakers: a) # of appearances in NCAAs top 20 and  b) most recent to oldest.

The Results:

1. Robert Hollen* - 17th 1951, 7th 1952, 6th 1953 for 33 points.
2. Curtis Stone -  7th 1942, 2nd 1946 for 33 points.
3. Alan Scharsu - 19th 1979, 7th 1980, 6th 1981 for 31 points.
4. William Ashenfelter - 8th 1950, 4th 1951 for 30 points.
5. Eric Carter - 9th 1985, 4th 1987 for 29 points.
6. Gerald Karver - 9th 1942, 6th 1947 for 27 points,
7. Norman Gordon - 11th 1941, 5th 1942 for 26 points.
8. Horace Ashenfelter - 19th 1946, 2nd 1947 for 21 points.
9. Greg Fredericks - 4th 1970, 20th 1971 for 18 points.
10. Paul Stemmer - 5th 1975 for 16 points.
11. William Smith - 5th 1938 for 16 points. 

* Variously spelled Hellen, Holen and Hollen in each of the years results pages.  More information wanted!!

Alan Scharsu

Bill and HoraceAshenfelter, and Curt Stone

Curt Stone

My Readers Are The Best: And I'll Never Doubt Our New Blog Laureate Again

The 1974 AAU XC Championship listing from Mike Fanelli's vast archives was a big hit.  The only way to top it would be photographs from that meet.  And Dan Martinez, our best Oregon Duck connection, has come through for us again!  Both Mike and Dan have always been invited to our Reunion and Golf Outing.  It would be a pleasure to have a Duck and a native Philadelphian amongst our ranks.  Please chime in with who is who among the runners pictured. (Hint: There seems to be 2 Nittany Lions lurking in the photos somewhere?)

And it turns out that Larry Mangan was 100% correct and both the previous Blog Laureate and I were 100% wrong.  Larry will now be tasked with his newest Group title as Blog Laureate, a position that has been unfilled for far too long.

The Coach Groves Spiked Shoe Meet was known as the Coaches Conference Meet in its early manifestation.  I'm not sure who did the legwork on this but I am impressed.  The telltale article was found in the Reading Eagle of all places.

1979 Coaches Conference XC Meet

1. Larry Mangan   24:40   5.2 mile  (Course Record)
2. Alan Scharsu     24:56
3. John Zeigler
4. Tom Rapp
5. Jeff Adkins
6. Ricky Garcia
7. Jim Clelland

I cannot thank my readers enough for making this site almost factually accurate! hee hee hee All errors in fact are usually my responsibility.  But most times, my readers rescue me.

Murder At The Penn State Track! And More Roommate Pictures

A suspect is still at large in the Tuesday murder of the large tree at the entrance to the PSU Outdoor Track Facility.  An All Points Bulletin has been issued and the suspect is thought to be in hiding in either Greece or Italy.  Zeus (aka Jupiter) struck the tree with a lightning bolt under the cover of darkness during a storm.  Penn State authorities had to put  the tree down the following day.  A replacement will not be available for approximately 60 years.

Photo by Course Marshall Greg Fredericks.

Photo by Golden Putter Attendant Greg Fredericks.

 And our Oregon Duck connection Dan Martinez sent me some additional photos of Alan Scharsu from Walt Chadwick's wonderful vintage track photo site.  Bon Appetit.

Changing Of The Guard

At one point, my roommate Alan Scharsu had the All-Time 5th best high school 2-Mile time in the nation.  Close to 40 years later, he finally dropped out of the top 10 with performances over the weekend.  (Hat tip to our Chief Laundry and Morale Officer for that one!)

8:29.46	*Lukas Verzbicas’ (Sandburg, Orland Park, Illinois) 2011
8:34.40	German Fernandez (Riverbank, California) 2008
8:36.3	Jeff Nelson (Burbank, California) 1979
8:37.22+	————Fernandez 2008
8:39.15i	Edward Cheserek’ (St. Benedict’s, Newark, New Jersey) 2013
8:40.0i	Gerry Lindgren (Rogers, Spokane, Washington) 1964
8:40.70i	————*Verzbicas’ 2011
8:40.9	Craig Virgin (Lebanon, Illinois) 1973
8:41.55	Matthew Centrowitz (Broadneck, Annapolis, Maryland) 2007
8:41.5	Steve Prefontaine (Marshfield, Coos Bay, Oregon) 1969
**10 performances by 8 performers**
8:43.2i	Dave Merrick (Lincoln-Way, New Lenox, Illinois) 1971
8:44.03	Alan Scharsu (Fitch, Austintown, Ohio) 1978

             (8:42.51  Drew Hunter   2015)
             (8:43.57  Grant Fisher    2015)

 Incidentally, I once had the all-time best average mile time for a 17 year old in the 24-Hour Relay, a loosely kept "record" by Runners World (27 miles in 4:57 4:58).  My future roommate, it turns out, demolished the time just days after I did it in 1977 (a sub 4:50 4:47 or so average, if I remember correctly).  For you young bucks out there, never do this.  Nothing good happens...

A Roundup of PSU Track Alumni News, Plus A Physics Board Game!

As a catch-up for plenty of submissions from astute readers of the blog, lurkers and other assorted miscreants, here is a mish mash of items.

First up is from Brian Mount, our William and Mary Roving Coorespondent, who "ran into" some Fuller Brothers in a race in Chambersburg.  As he put it, "The Glass was 2/3 Fuller" with Brian placing third in 31:31 and Kevin 8th in 34:07 for the 10K race.  Alas, no Alumni Singlet sightings as they are apparently sponsored now by an underwater treadmill company or stole some uniforms. Hee hee hee

Next, Phil Caraher has opened a new Fitness Enterprise in the Wonderland that is North Carolina.  I wish him the best of luck. Triangle Sports Performance Center is in good hands.

Speaking of North Carolina, Alan Scharsu recently moved from San Diego to North Carolina.  Those of you nearby need to get a hold of him and let him know he's welcome! And he promises it's close enough to make it to the Coach Groves Golf Tourney!

Tyler McCandless recently was interviewed for a Podcast about his eccentric pro running career.  Check it out here.

And as promised, here's Physics in a Board Game!  Although for most of us, it's probably just a bored game.

And don't forget to vote in the Semi-Finals of the Performance of the Year.  You must go to the full web site to see the poll on the left side-bar.  Vote for three.  The next Semi-Final will be next week and the Finals will be between Christmas and New Year.  So bookmark the site and return often!

Out of the Blue (and White) Comes Some Great Black (and White) Pictures!

All-around good guy and PSU Pole Vaulter (and hurdler!) Don Skerpon posted these great pics from the 1980 Dogwood Relays.

Paul Lankford.

Larry Mangan and Mike England.

Alan Scharsu and Sydney Maree. (and John Gregorek)

Al and Larry.

"The Shoe"

Paul Lankford.

Larry contemplates the Sunday Mountain Run.

"Official" Penn State Track Alumni Records: Distance Edition

This was the most problematic section to put together because of many factors, competitiveness being the most important among them!  I have included 2 entries in some of the events, just because I want to. Please alert us with any corrections or clarifications!

3000 Meters: 7:50.40, Alan Scharsu '82 .. . . 1985

3000 M Steeplechase: 8:21.72,  (Stockholm) 1978 (American Record)

5000 Meters:  1) 13:31.61, James Carney,  2008

 2) 13:34.0, Alan Scharsu '82 . 1985

10,000 Meters: 1)   27:43.64, James Carney, 2007

 2) 28:03.14, Greg Fredericks '72 ..... (US Olympic Trials) 1980

1/2 Marathon: 1) 1:01.43 (Phila.) 1982 (American Record)

2) 1:02:21, James Carney 2008

 Marathon: 2:12:23, James Carney,  (Houston Olympic Trials) 2012

James Carney.

Sprint Records,

 Middle Distance Records

 Jumps Records

 Throws Records

Outdoor Track Season Begins (Like a Lion!)

Artist's Interpretation

I have already been to 2 track meets this season, and neither of them were held with the temperature above freezing.  I never remembered any really cold meets like this when I was in high school, but I'm sure running in them was easier than watching them.

With Ohio officials indicting one of my great heroes (Punxatawney Phil), one has to wonder why Al Gore isn't in prison for the global warming thing. What's good for the marmot is good for the former 5-Hour marathoner, I say.

Having a Sprinter/Hurdler/Jumper in the family is mighty strange.  My daughter had her first ever track meet, running the 100 M Hurdles, the 400 M and the 4 x 400 Relay.  She was held out of the Long Jump at the last second, but that will come soon.  I don't think I've ever actually watched a whole long jump competition before.  That will be a weird experience.

And talking about range, how about Beth Shisler mixing it up with both the Marathon and the 200/400 M in the same year!  She's at the USATF Masters Indoor Championships in Landover MD. She placed 8th in the Finals of the 400 M with a very fine 68.3 at age (redacted)! She has several events remaining, and we wish her luck.  I also have her at even odds to be the Women's Golfer of the Year at our Coach Groves Golf Tournament.

Speaking of cold weather meets...   How many of you remember the meets at the old Ice Palace where we had to go outside to get warmer?  We had one meet where it was 9 degrees* inside.  Alan Scharsu has the record with a 4:09 Mile in 9 degrees*!

* I lied, it was really 16 degrees, but who's counting?

Photos Keep Coming: Scharsu!

Still more Vintage Track and XC Photos are crossing our Wire Service at Blog Central.  I'll do my best to get facts correct this time, but then again messing things up tends to create more interest and responses. (I'm 100% certain these are all Alan Scharsu photos.  I'm very certain the years are correct also.)

1979 Junior XC Championships.

 

1980 Olympic Trials

 

March 1980 Indoor

Still More Good Days

Vintage photos always brings out the curiosity among runners, throwers and jumpers.  So a few more photos have rolled in from afar.  And since the indoor season is about to start, I figured I had better post them now.  (And don't forget to vote for the Performance of the Year!!)

 1978 1979 NCAA 10000M  (Ziggy!)

 1978 1981 NCAA  AAU(TAC) XC (Alan!) -photo by Richard Lee Slotkin.

1978 1979 NCAA AAU(TAC) 5000M (Snid!) -photo by Richard Lee Slotkin.

And here's another good day with  Nick Scarpello in Aruba! (That's some pretty good company there, Nick!)

In Praise of My Roommate

In another iteration of the often-asked question "What NCAA Cross Country team was the best ever?", the 1981 UTEP team came out on top.  The entirely foreign team of East Africans placed first, second, third, fifth and sixth in the team standings to score an astounding 17 points.  Only one American runner broke up a perfect team score, (although two other individuals also sneaked in  ahead of UTEP's fourth scorer also.  They didn't count in the team scores.). That runner was Penn State's own Alan Scharsu, my former senior year roommate.

1. Mathews Motshwarateu, Texas-El Paso, 28:45.6
2. Michael Musyoki. Texas-El Paso, 28:46.4
3. Gabriel Kamau, Texas-El Paso, 29:19.3
4. Mark Scrutton, Colorado, 29.22.1
5. Graeme Fell, San Diego State, 29:30.4
6. Alan Scharsu, Penn State, 29:30.5
7. Suleiman Nyambui, Texas-El Paso, 29:32.6
8. Gidamis Shahanga, Texas-El Paso, 29:33.6
9. David Taylor, Arkansas, 29:35.6
10. Richard Tuwei. Washington State, 29:36.7

I have previously extolled the virtues of another PSU roommate, Dudley Doo-Right (aka Doug Kent).  Alan was also a great roommate.  We also lived next door to Don Skerpon that year.  Another pair of people as fine as them would be hard to find.  My only quibble with Alan would be his choice of music, but today's versions temper that quite a bit!

The Duel

It has been nearly 33 years since The Duel, but I remember it as if it was yesterday.  One of the participants has since almost died twice (that we know of) while the other has battled back from alcoholism and severe weight gain.  But neither a heart attack nor hyperthermia could kill the one, and alcoholism the other, and both are still running today.

The 1979 NCAA XC Championships were in Saucon Valley, just south of Bethlehem PA.  Alberto Salazar and Henry Rono were among the stars, and they did not fail to disappoint.  I was lucky enough to see the race with Rob, Mark, Barb, Gary and others who had spent the night with me at my grandfather's house.  It really was a unique opportunity.

Right from the start, it was a duel between Rono and Salazar, which continued for the entire 10K. Alberto, probably outmatched in talent, never had any quit in him, which explains his later brushes with death quite easily.  Rono eventually pulled away, but no one would have said it was easy.

More interesting to our cadre of spectators was seeing a tight bunch of PSU singlets near the front of the pack.  Alan Scharsu, John Zeigler, Bob Snyder (I was wrong here.), Larry Mangan and Tom Rapp were there (who else? Help me here! Dwight Stephens? Jeff Adkins? actually Jeff Adkins, Jim Clelland and Rick Garcia.).  The Nittany Lions became the top team with all Americans to finish.    It seems like yesterday...

Complete Race Results Here

And since I don't have video of it, here's the trailer for the movie High Noon.