Nittany Lions return to the Sunshine State, and Alumni unite at the Carlsbad 5000

I was thrilled to see some great results from this weekend's Florida Relays for the Nittany Lions.  It's actually been four years since the team made the trek down to Gainesville for this meet, and so to put that time elapse in perspective, I'll recall a few quick memories from that meet in 2011...

1) Chris Cipro, Sam Borchers, Tyler Corkedale, Connor Revord and I almost got eaten alive by an alligator.

2) Cipro ("Kipro" as announced by Flotrack's play-by-play broadcasters), Corkedale and I all toed the line for the men's 5K at about 11pm (delayed by five hours after the race was scheduled to start) Actually the cool air of the late evening probably benefited the whole field quite a bit.  That weekend was scorching hot I recall.  Race vid here:  http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/238228-2011-Florida-Relays/video/481893-M-5k-H01-1403-Winning-Time#.VSDB8vnF9u4

3) Cip ran an inspiring anchor leg of the DMR in his first (and maybe his only ever?) collegiate 1600m/mile.  But the MVP was the lead off, Connor Revord, returning to his home state, for his first ever collegiate track race, running a solid 1200 leg, then letting BBG and Borch the Torch handle the middle stages of the race.  Vid here:  http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/238228-2011-Florida-Relays/video/482142-M-dmr-H01#.VSDCcPnF9u4

Lo and behold, four years later, I'm sharpening up for a 5K once again, only this time it will be Mt. SAC.  The alumni singlet has been getting some love over here in San Diego, by the way.  This past weekend at the Carlsbad 5000 I had the pleasure of meeting the 2006 PSU grad, and 3:38 1500m man, Matt Lincoln, who picked me out from the crowd as I was sporting the singlet on my cooldown.  Small world, eh?

Classic Scarp tactics- hanging back early.  The neon green singlets are my track club buddies.  I go rogue w/ the white jersey.

Track and Field is Starting to Heat Up Mid-Season

The season has hit the mid-way mark with a bang in the Penn State World.  And not on just one front.

• The American Track League started in Bloomington yesterday with Penn State well represented.  That's the limited Track and Field Meet punctuated with the music of the Velveteen Playboys with front-man Paul Souza. There were 2 season world-leading performances even despite there being only 10 events. (18 feet, 8 ¾ inches in the pole vault by Mark Hollis and 8 minutes, 33.89 seconds in the 3,000-meter steeplechase by De' Sean Turner.)
• Fawn Dorr was 6th in the 400 M hurdles with 1:00.32.
• Shana Cox was 7th in the 400 M in 54.44.

There also happened to be a NCAA leading performance by a Nittany Lion at the Kehoe Twilight Track and Field Meet at Maryland by Kiah Seymour! With some other strong performances:

• Kiah Seymour won the 400 M hurdles in 55.88, tops in the NCAA this year.
• Darrell Hill continues to crush the Shot Put with a PR 64' 5 1/4", which is #3 all-time for PSU! 
• A sweep of the 400 M! (Brandon Bennett-Gree, Alex Shisler, Bernard Bennett Green and Aaron Nodolsky).
• Dual Javelin victories from Michael Shuey and Laura Loht.

And the 800M/1500M stars will be lacing up their spikes at the prestigious Payton Jordan Invite at Stanford on Sunday.

What A Weekend

Another superb Penn Relays in the books. It was great seeing old teammates again, this weekend has really evolved into a mini reunion for us. The first ever Reconnect at the Relays was a success as well, a great event for alumni attending the Relays to connect with one another. The perfect prequel for the big reunion in May.

On the track, we were represented by three alums competing in distance events. Brian Fuller DNFed in the men's Olympic Development 5000 meters. He was feeling under the weather but being the Penn Relays, you line up and give it a shot. Kara Foster got a new mile PR with her 14th place 4:43.97 in the women's Olympic Development Mile. Owen Dawson lined up for the men's Olympic Development Mile, last year he ran his first sub 4 here, and went for the win holding first place with 200 meters go. He ran 4:00.13 for 5th place.

Per usual the Nittany Lions had multiple event winners.

Congratulations to:

Leigha Anderson 10000 meters COA division

Laura Loht javelin COA division

Will Barr discus college division

Michael Shuey javelin COA division

Steve Waithe triple jump COA division

Bernard Bennett-Green, Brandon Bennett-Green, Alex Shisler, Byron Robinson 4x400 IC4A division

Of course part of what makes the Penn Relays great is the scene outside of Franklin Field. I will leave you with this video of the party.

Nittany Lion Challenge Recap

Another fine showcase at the Nittany Lion Challenge.

I am going with co-performance of the meet honors. Bernard Bennett-Green with his break though 400 (46.61 and 4th fastest in the NCAA this season) and Robby Creese winning the 1000 in a US leading time of 2:20.65.

In my meet preview I mentioned that the 1000 meter run has been a showcase event for this meet and it certainly didn't disappoint on Saturday. Robby used his trademark bell lap speed to pull away from the field. Winning with a big kick should be referred to as a Creese Lightning. Although my prediction of a new alumni record did not come to fruition. Owen Dawson came close clocking a 2:22.94 for 4th place and .28 seconds behind Randy Moore's 2:22.66 from 1986.



Event 13  Men 1000 Meter Run
===============================================================
    Facility: F 2:19.53  2012        Robby Creese, P S U      
         PSU: P 2:19.53  2012        Robby Creese             
        Meet: M 2:19.53  2012        Robby Creese, Penn State 
    Name                    Year School                  Finals
===============================================================
Finals                                                        
  1 Creese, Robby             JR Penn State             2:20.65
  2 Bile, Ahmed               SO Georgetown             2:21.42
  3 Ledder, Billy             JR Georgetown             2:21.77
  4 Dawson, Owen                 Unattached             2:22.94
  5 Peavey, Bobby             SR Georgetown             2:23.87
  6 Dillenbeck, Alex          JR Iowa State             2:25.96
  7 Sorensen, Dylan           SR Georgetown             2:26.54
  8 Gioielli, Joseph          SO Iowa State             2:27.33
  9 Baldwin, Alec             SO Iowa State             2:27.52
10 Reher, Michael            JR Georgetown             2:28.46
11 Seitzer, Dominik          FR Ohio State             2:28.98
12 Kinnare, Kieran           JR Cornell                2:30.79
13 Castelli, Tyler           SO Pittsburgh             2:31.90
14 Dawson, Kyle                 Unattached             2:32.95
-- Zingsheim, Zach           FR Georgetown                 DNF

Kyle Dawson, looking to work on his finishing speed, ran the 1000 after pacing 7th in the mile with a 4:18.43. He will be back in the 3000 meters in two weeks at the Penn State National.

Down in Houston Tyler McCandless started his 2014 with a PR at the USA Half Marathon Championships, part of the Aramco Houston Half Marathon and Chevron Houston Marathon. Tyler tweeted his thoughts on his run. (Officially 17th in 1:03.25)

1:03:21 at the USA Half Marathon Champs! Just 5s off my pr but three minutes faster than this same weekend in 2013. Hell of a start to 2014!
— Tyler McCandless (@TrackTy) January 19, 2014

Back In Action

Some people recover quicker than others and that is certainly the case for Kyle Dawson and Owen Dawson. Now it's no secret that these guys are endurance monsters but some of us who raced last weekend haven't left the ice bath yet.

All kidding aside The Nittany Lion Challenge is tomorrow at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track and both Dawson's are entered in the 1000 with Kyle doubling in the mile (heat sheets and schedule). Kyle, who is preparing for a fast 3K at the Penn State National, will be getting some quality speed work while Owen is racing in the meets showcase event. Ryan Foster ran a then school record in the 2010 edition only to see his 2:19.60 bested by Robby Creese in 2012 with a 2:19.53 (which happens to be the collegiate record). Owen split a 1:51 800 last weekend and I wouldn't be surprised to see a new indoor alumni record* tomorrow (currently held by Randy Moore at 2:22.66).

Last thing before moving on from last weekend is reading Bernard Bennett-Green's thoughts on the Penn State Indoor Relays in his official team blog.

*Speaking of records the Penn State Indoor Relays 4x800 meter relay meet record, of which I ran on, survived for another year. It's really all I got from my time in college besides some piece paper with a few top administrators signatures on it.

Penn State Relays Observations

A great weekend for Penn State. James "Pope" Franklin* and a great number of quality performances at the Penn State Relays. Since I was participating I did not get any photos but I'll link to some when they become available. Results and a much more professional recap here.

A Nittany Lion took first place in a whopping 19 out of the 35 events contested including a 1-2-3-4 sweep in the men's 500 meter dash and a collegiate record in the women's 4x200 meter relay. We couldn't tell who won the 500 as twins Brandon and Bernard Bennett-Green were separated by 1/100th of a second (talk about identical genes). Third was freshmen Byron Robinson while Alex Shisler book-ended the sweep.

My performance of the meet goes to Mahagony Jones, Dynasty McGee, Megan Osborne, and Kiah Seymour for setting a new collegiate record in the 4x200 clocking 1:35.65.

Alumni singlets were worn with pride in the 1000 meter run and Distance Medley Relay. I used the age old strategy of just running away from everyone and winning the "B" heat of the 1000 in 2:33.98 while Brian Fuller, Kevin Fuller, Owen Dawson, and Kyle Dawson came third in 10:02.84 in the DMR. Kyle showed his trademark toughness on the anchor leg as he looked in extreme pain trying to make up ground and reclaim the DMR title for us graduates. The B team of Mark Fuller, Vince McNally, myself, and Chris Cipro were 7th in 10:41.41. Still beating two schools despite Vince coming down from the 10K to run a 400 leg; and he never was a sprinter to begin with. First place and current number 1 world ranking** went to the varsity team in 9:59.94.

Next week is the Nittany Lion Challenge at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track. I don't believe there will be any alumni participating but the big timers will certainly be putting on another fine display of athletic prowess.

*I believe it was signified with white smoke coming from Old Main
**Unofficial of course

Back to the Future

College is a training ground for the professional world. Two guys on the varsity team are looking to be great additions to the Alumni Blog upon graduation. Senior Bernard Bennett-Green will be the varsity teams official blogger and Billy Cvecko is putting together some great highlight videos. Here is one from the Blue/White Meet.

The Penn State Relays are scheduled for this afternoon and we do have some alumni action with an entry in the 1000 meter run and two distance medley relays. Check back tomorrow for a recap and pictures of the meet.

Almost a Tricycle!!! PSU is 800 U

It's been a marvelous Penn Relays this year even though I couldn't be there live.  Penn State had arguably the best weekend of all teams there, winning two "Wheels" and just missing on the third.  The individual performances in the field and on the track were nearly as good.  There is a lot happening in Happy Valley!  It will be a hootenanny at the Reunion this year.

Here's the Update:

1. Mens Championship of America Sprint Medley Relay - Returning Champions! Update: 2 in a Row!  3:18.47 Aaron Nadolsky, Brandon Bennett-Green, Brady Gehret (45.6), Casimir Loxsom (1:50.0)
2. Mens Championship of America 4 x 800 - My favorite event  (Longest standing Event Record at Penn)   A Wheel for the Win!! 

   7:19.76

   Owen Dawson (1:50.8), Ryan Brennan (1:50.8), Casimir Loxsom (1:49.3), Robby Creese (1:48.9)

3. Mens Championship of America 4 x 400 - The Quintessential Track Event. Update: Qualified for today's championship of America!  Second Place 

   3:04.78

   Aaron Nadolsky, Matt Gilmore, Brady Gehret (45.0), Bernard Bennett-Green (45.3)

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. Update: Joe Kovacs Champion 19.94m (65-5),  Logan Caldwell 11th 17.22m (56-6)    
8. Womens Championship of America Sprint Medley Relay - 8th
   

   3:55.19

   Dynasty McGee, Kirsten Nieuwendam, Ijeoma Iheoma, Marta Klebe (2:11.0)