Previous Performance of the Year Winners

Don't forget to vote in this year's version of the Performance of the Year Poll on the left side of the full web site!

This marks the 6th year of the poll.  I'm not sure why it took me 3 years until I started doing it.

• 2011 - Caitlin Lane - Big Ten Cross Country victory.
• 2012 - Bridget Franek - Finals of the Olympic 3000M Steeplechase.
• 2013 - Penn Relays Distance Medley Relay Championship of America.  (Brannon Kidder, Brandon Bennett-Green, Casimir Loxsom, Robbie Creese)
• 2014 - Brannon Kidder - School Record 1500M.
• 2015 - Joe Kovacs - Shot Put World Championship.

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.

Penn State National Recap

More quality coverage from GoPSUSports and Flotrack. Full results here.

Another Penn State National in the books. Plenty of alums were back in town for the meet. This weekend has become an unofficial reunion of sorts. It was great seeing similar faces returning to the scenes of their youthful glory days.

The performance of the meet goes to what else but the men's DMR on Friday night. The quartet of Brannon Kidder, Brandon Bennett-Green, Za'Von Watkins, and Robby Creese threw down the second fastest time ever in the world by any team on an indoor track. Their 9:26.59 is just .62 seconds shy of the world record held by the 2008 Texas Longhorns 9:25.97. My completely unofficial splits were 2:52.9 for Kidder, 46. 8 for BBG, 1:48.7 for Watkins, and 3:58.0 for Creese. They were running with the lead from the get go but Stanford did kept it interesting and provided the necessary competition for a fast time. Congrats to them as well. Best part is they are just getting started, there will be few more chances for fast DMR's.

Watch more videos on Flotrack

For those who couldn't be there or if you just want verify my splits.

Photos courtesy of Steve Shisler

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday was just as exciting. Besides the podcasting which went extremely well. We all seemed to know what we were talking about (a first for me). I am going give an honorable mention performance of the meet to Wade Endress. The Altoona native won the "slower" heat of the invitational mile in 4:04.51 (a big breakthrough and PR). Brannon Kidder continued the sub 4 tradition in the "fast" heat with 3:59.55. Owen Dawson 4:01.36 for third.

 

The fast times wouldn't have been possible with out the ace rabbiting done by Kevin Fuller, Brian Fuller, and Kyle Dawson. Kevin took the hot heat of the 800 meters through a 52 second 400, Brian the first half of mile in 1:58-1:59, and Kyle paced the 3000 through one mile in a saucy 4:15. No real surprises as they always get the job done when it comes to pacing.

 

P.S. co honorable mention performance of the meet to Ryan Foster. He is filling the big shoes left behind by Jess Riden perfectly. The job of running a big time track meet can be thankless job and Ryan certainly deserves a lot of credit for directing a good show. If you saw him at the meet he was indeed a busy busy man.



 



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

2013 Performance of the Year

It wasn't as close as I thought it might be.  We had more votes than ever and the clear winner this year is the Penn Relays Distance Medley Relay Championship of America. After a drought of fifty-three years, the PSU quartet was able to ascend to the podium!

Wheel!

 Brannon Kidder (2:53.5)

 Brandon Bennett-Green (45.6)

 Casimir Loxsom (1:46.7)

 Robbie Creese (3:58.9)

2.    (Tie)   - Casimir Loxsom, Brannon Kidder finishing 2 and 3 in the 800 M at the NCAA       Championships.

                  - Indoor Distance Medley Relay Record 9:26.6

3.    (Tie)   -  Casimir Loxsom - Athlete of the Meet at Penn Relays.  

                  - Ryan Whiting 2nd at the IAAF World Championships in the Shot Put.

4.    -  Cas Loxsom's American Record 600 M at Big Ten Indoor Championships.

Top Ten Finish For Penn State Men: Six More First Team All-Americans

Congrats to the Mens Team on a very successful season.  It certainly was exciting from start to finish.  The NCAA Indoor Championships ended yesterday with PSU in a three-way tie for Ninth Place with 19 Points.

What happened to the beard?

PSU is 800 U

All-Americans:

1. Brannon Kidder FR  Distance Medley 1200 M  Second Place (2:55.17)
2. Brandon Bennett-Green JR Distance Medley 400 M Second Place (46.55)
3. Za'Von Watkins FR  Distance Medley  800 M Second Place (1:49.54)
4. Robbie Creese SO  Distance Medley  1600 M Second Place (4:02.75)
5. Will Barr JR Weight Throw  Sixth Place (69' 11.75") School Record
6. Casimir Loxsom SR 800 M Second Place (1:47.23)

Flotrack Crashes My Computer

In trying to bring the fabulous Distance Medley Relay from the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame last night to our blog, my computer crashes EVERY SINGLE TIME I try to go to Flotrack to upload the video.  It's more than frustrating.  Otherwise, Blog Central is humming along like a Champion.  I invested in a fine machine just to bring this stuff to the masses, and no other web sites do this.  Anyone else having problems with Flotrack since they decided to be a revenue collecting organization?

I also have trouble whenever viewing LetsRun.com, but that has more to do with the idiots that have overtaken the site.  The troubles with that site are all in my head!

But even without proper video of the effort, the Penn State Distance Medley Relay quartet ran one tremendous time yesterday.  They now have the nation's fastest DMR going into the NCAAs without using the second fastest 800 M runner in the nation.

The time is the second fastest collegiate time ever (kudos to Texas for no. 1.).  Needless to say, it's a School Record.

9:26.60

Brannon Kidder    1200 M  2:53.0

Brandon Bennett-Green  400 M  46.4

Za'Von Watkins  800 M  1:49.3

Robbie Creese  1600 M  3:57.3 

 

PSU is 800 U: (4 x 200 M = 800 M)

The team of  Emunuel Mpanduki, Matt Gilmore, Brandon Bennett-Green and Aaron Nodolsky set the School and Collegiate Record (1:24.70) in the 4 x 200 M Relay in the opening salvo of the record assault known as the Penn State National.  Will Barr also set the school record in the Weight Throw (67' 3.50").

 

I'm hopping on the treadmill for a miserable 1 or 2 miles then heading up to a snowy State College for this afternoon's races.  Be sure to look for me and say hello!

School Record at NCAA Championships

They did it during the Indoor Season, so why not during the Outdoor Season?  Maybe even a couple of times.  Why not?

The quartet of Aaron Nodolsky (46.6), Brandon Bennett-Green (44.8), Casimir Loxsom (45.6) and Brady Gehret (44.22), qualified first for the finals of the 4 x 400 M Relay to be held on Saturday.  This gives them the Outdoor School Record by more than 2 seconds.   3:01.52

Brady Gehret will lace up the spikes on Friday evening in the Open 400M also.

As an editorial note, I have to say that the 400M has always been the event I never wanted to run.  It always seemed to me that it was the event that created the most lactic acid and brought someone closest to collapse at the end.  In high school I was often threatened with being placed as anchor on the 4 x 440 Yard Relay, which kept me the most behaved member of the team.

Having run thousands of "quarters" in training over the years, I have a healthy respect for anyone willing and able to run that distance in under 50 seconds.  although 54 was probably my very limited PR, I was able to run a 58 at the end of a 2-Mile, for whatever that is worth.

My hats are off to these guys, and I wish them luck in the finals.  May the stick fall right into your hands and may the track be scorched!

NCAA Bound

It was a fine Regional Qualifying Meet for PSU Athletes on both the track and the field.

1. Joe Kovacs - Shot Put                                                                                                            
2. Lauren Kenney - Javelin
3. Laura Loht - Javelin
4. Will Barr - Discus
5. Brady Gehret - 400 M
6. Casimir Loxsom - 800 M
7. Rebecca Simko - 800 M
8. Melissa Kurzdorfer - Hammer
9. Aaron Nodolsky, Brandon Bennett-Green, Casimir Loxsom, Brady Gehret - 1600 M Relay (3:03.57 School Record)
10. Doris Anyanwu, Dynasty McGee, Ijeoma Iheoma, Kristin Nieuwemdam - 1600 M Relay

"A Very Good First (2) Day(s): Wheels and Watches

An Update on the Penn Relays Quest for hardware:

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

Blazing Lions

The Nittany Lion Mens 4 x 400 squad blazed to a second place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships yesterday in Boise.The quartet of Aaron Nodolsky (47.13), Brandon Bennett-Green (46.46), Casimir Loxsom (46.04) and Brady Gehret (45.69) just missed their School Record even on the tighter 200 M oval!* (3:05.31)

And Coach Sullivan looks good posing with the boys too!  Congrats to all.

Watch more video of NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships 2012 on flotrack.org

* I know its not an oval, so get over yourself!

Nittany Lions in the "Post-Season"

NCAA Indoor Championships, Boise, Idaho.

1. Robbie Creese -  Mile
2. Casimir Loxsom - 800 M
3. Mens 4 x 400 M  (Aaron Nodolsky, Brannon Bennett-Green, Casimir Loxsom, Brady Gehret)*
4. Evonne Britton - 60 M Hurdles

IAAF World Indoor Championships, Istanbul, Turkey.

1. Ryan Whiting** - Shot Put
2. Ryan Foster (Australia) - 1500 M
3. Dominique Blake (Jamaica)  - 400 M (?)
4. Aleesha Barber (Trinidad-Tobago) - 60 M Hurdles
5. Shana Cox (Great Britain) - 400 M

* The four who set the qualifying mark.
** Honorary PSU Track Alumni Golfer and Volunteer Assistant Coach

Here's Joe Kovacs at the USATF Indoor Championships with a PR and almost qualifying for IAAF.

B1G, B1G School Record in the 4 x 400 and Another Creese Gem

The Mens 4 x 400 set a school record in the 4 x 400 at the Last Chance Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame today.  Aaron Nodolsky, Brandon Bennett-Green, Cas Loxsom and Brady Gehret ran a scintillating 3:05.22, more than 2 seconds better than the school record!

Watch more video of 2012 Alex Wilson Invitational (Notre Dame) on flotrack.org

Robby Creese ran another bold and exciting race in the Mile, coming in second with a PR of 3:58.94.


Watch more video of 2012 Alex Wilson Invitational (Notre Dame) on flotrack.org