More Alumni Action Post World Championships

There are alums in action even following the World Championships. 

Joe Kovacs will continue his season in Europe, joined by Darrell Hill.  They placed first and third at the recent American Track League meet.

 

Brannon Kidder (4th) and Isaiah Harris (8th) also mixed it up at the same meet in the 800M.  The Womens 800M had Danae Rivers placing 8th.

And Doreen McCoubrie was the 5000M USATF (60-64yo) National Champion at the Masters Nationals in Kentucky.

NCAA 2021 Outdoor Finalists

 The Nittany Lions will have 7 representatives at the upcoming championships at the renovated Hayward Field.  A modicum of attendees will be there.  Mark "Beef" Heckel, Blue Band Captain, Track Alumni (Golfer) and heralded Throws Official may throw us a bone or two when not busy!

21  Evan Dorenkamp   FR 800M           1:49.11 

 4  David Lucas     SR Discus          60.77m 

12  Tyler Merkley  SO Hammer          67.47m 

13  Mark Porter  JR Javelin         70.22m  

20  Noah Swaby    SO Decathlon         7517 

11  Danae Rivers   SR 1500M          4:12.81 

7  Madeline Nickal (Holmberg) SR Heptathlon        5839  

And don't forget to get your entries in for this year's Reunion.  You can do it the old fashioned way by sending the monies in to Harry Smith or to me via PayPal on the top of  the full web site!  Not available yet on the handheld site or via the Facebook Page.  The Interns will get around to it.

It Was A Banner Weekend For 800U

 

Wow.  There was finally a lot going on.  There was a School Record in the Pole Vault and a second place finish at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.  Luke Knipe scaled the heights to 17' 4.5"!!!  Sincere Rhea leaned better than all the rest to snag the 60HH Championship.  Whoa.

There were a few other finishes for the scaled-down teams sent to Geneva, Ohio.  But mostly, the 800U dominance continued for the Men and Women.

• Dom Perretta overcame injuries, Covid, surgeries and his recent 300-game bowling incident to return to the top of the Podium in the 800M .  He did it in a fashion favored by Yevgeni Arzhanov in the 1972 Olympic Finals.  Only this time Yevgeni holds on!  I have been thinking that this would happen each of the last 100 times I have watched that race, but here it is many years later with one of our own striking gold.  (12 of the last 14, and 5 in-a-row B1G)
  
• The dual Victorias medaled in the Womens 800M.  Not to be outdone by Dom, Victoria Vanriele channeled Dave Wottle instead and caught everyone at the tape.  Victoria Tachinski held on for 3rd.(5 in-a-row B1G titles)
  

 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1365704786625105926

Still, the Alumni provided even more 800U goodness.

• Instead of racing, Danae Rivers danced for the duration in the Dance Marathon to benefit the Four Diamonds Fund.
• Isaiah Harris bounced back from his disappointing opening season race to win the 800 in Autin, Texas  with a 1:46 and change.  He says he is confident on 1:43 when the time comes at the Olympic Trials...

Tim McGowan, Billy Cvecko and Isaiah Harris in Texas.

 

PSU Is 800U: (The politically incorrect take in honor of Coach Groves)

And for those who don't like it, tough. 

Big Ten Indoor Championships 2020    800M Women:   Danae Rivers  1st  2:06.27

That's her 4th straight Indoor Big Ten 800M title, never done before.

And in the biggest upset so far:

Big Ten Indoor Championships 2020    800M Men:     Billy McDevitt   1st  1:48.78

That's the 5th straight victory for PSU Men!

Penn State Track Alumni (Golfers) In The Top Ten USA Rankings 2019

It was a very good year for PSU, with some very good rankings in the 2019 year-end review by Track and Field News (The Bible of the Sport).

1.   Javelin        Michael Shuey

2.   SP                Joe Kovacs

3.   SP                Darrell Hill

5.   800 M          Isaiah Harris

6.   800 M          Brannon Kidder

7.   HT              Morgan Shigo

7.   400 H          (Byron Robinson, transfer)

8.   SP               Rachel Fatherly

9.   1500 M       Brannon Kidder

Top Performances by Events 2019:

1.   Shot Put                Joe Kovacs                    22.91 M    75' 2"
1.   Javelin                  Michael Shuey              83.21 M    273' 0"
3.   Shot Put                Darrell Hill                    22.35 M    73' 4"
3.   SMR Women        PSU                               3:45.25
4.   4 X 800 M Men     PSU                               7:19.50
7.   Shot Put                Rachel Fatherly             18.48 M     60' 7.75"
8.   Hammer               Morgan Shigo               72.64 M    238' 4"
12. Mile                      Danae Rivers                 4:29.47
20. Long Jump           Malik Moffett               7.92 M      26' 0"
20. 400 M                  (Alexis Holmes, transfer)  51.52

Joe Kovacs Won More Than Our Performance Of The Year!

It was a very strong year for PSU Alumni.  We had incredible performances that ended up not receiving any votes in our poll.  I find it hard to believe that Brannon Kidder's appearance in the 2019 World Championship 800M Semi-Finals failed to garner even a single vote!  Even Michael Shuey didn't get a single vote for his 4th place finish at the Pan Am Javelin toss.

To be honest, both of those performances were overshadowed by other performances from the same Lions.  Brannon posted a vote for his 3:35.27 1500M and Michael came in a strong 4th place for his National Championship in the USATF Javelin.

There was a tie for 2nd place between Danae River's NCAA Championship in the Indoor 800M and Doug Walter's donation of part of his liver to his nephew.  (Wow, tough crowd!)
But again on the top of the podium was Joe Kovacs, this time for his incredible last throw victory by 1cm with a Shot Put toss over 75 feet in distance by two other competitors.

Track and Field News called this the best ever Shot Put competition and has named it as their Performance of the Year also.  I'm sure Joe will value our honor as more special!

How Will These Predictions Turn Out For The NCAA XC Championships?

These predictions were meticulously made by a "washed-up grad student" in a recent post on the message boards of LetsRun.com

He must have had a lot of time!

Cross Country Rankings

“Cross. . . country. . . time is relative” – Albert Einstein

These rankings are calculated using the following algorithm:

1. Gather all of the meets which the teams in the region competed in. For each pair of meets, use the individuals who ran in both meets to evaluate the difference in their speed.
2. Use least-squares to get an overall adjustment score for each meet.
3. Gather the teams from last year’s regional results and form their top 7 from their most recent results. SOME TEAMS DID NOT RUN THEIR TOP 7 IN THE MOST RECENT MEET. IF THIS IS THE CASE FOR YOUR TEAM PLEASE EMAIL ME AND I WILL FIX IT. (bmazaher at caltech dot edu)
4. For each member of a team’s top 7, adjust all of their performances according to the meet’s score.
5. Average each runner’s performances over the season. More weight is given to recent performances. More weight is also given to performances whose adjustment is more certain.
6. Rank all of the individuals in the meet and score the simulated results.

Interpret the results in the following way:

[Place] [Time] [Time behind leader] [Uncertainty of time] [Name] [School]

The uncertainty of the times is in seconds. That is, someone with a “time behind leader” of 30 and an uncertainty of 10 will likely run between 20 and 40 seconds behind the winner.

I have copied the Penn State top 7 predictions using 5000 simulations:

1. Kathryn Munks    30th      (24th-62nd)
2. Alison Willingmyre   108th    (88-131)
3. Danae Rivers    112th     (94-151)
4. Julia Paternain    137th    (98-153)
5. Megan Ciasullo  194th  (157-214)
6. Kileigh Kane   219th    (192-248)
7. Julia Guerra     238th   (200-247)

And here's the Team Scores for all the B1G teams:

• 4th   Michigan State    (4-6)
• 5th   Michigan     (5-8)
• 7th   Wisconsin     (6-10)
• 15th  Illinois      (14-19)
• 16th  Ohio State    (14-19)
• 17th   Penn State   (15-20)
• 22nd  Indiana    (19-25)
• 26th   Minnesota  (22-28)

Wheel(ie) Awesome!

A Sprint Medley Relay Championship of America for the Penn State Women at Penn!

Penn State

3:45.25

Brooke-Lynn Williams, Kiara Lester, Alexis Holmes (53.0), Danae Rivers (2:04.71)

PSU Is 800U In Florida

At the Florida Relays, Penn State threw down some fine early season times in the 800M!

• Danae Rivers won the 800M with a nation's #1 time of 2:03.63
• Domenic Perretta ran the 800M in 1:47.75 for the #2 NCAA time

AND:

• Billy McDevitt, Colin Apert, Gary Ross and Domenic Peretta won the 4 x 800M in 7:19.50

Meanwhile in Frozen Head State Park, Ron Moore waits patiently in camp as rain, thunderstorms, sleet and snow blankets the area ONLY in the Park confines.  The poor bastards out in the elements have little chance of finishing this year at the Barkley Marathons.

Ron Moore represents us at the Start/Finish gate.

Coach Of The Year, Athletes Of The Year, And Another 800M Champion!

First up, Artie "Knute" Gilkes became the PIAA Boys Indoor Coach of the Year with his Little Lions victory at the State Meet.  Artie excels at coaching the jumps, of all things, but Nick K. tells us he gives a very good "Gipper" speech as well!  Congrats Artie.  And don't forget to golf this year!

While there is no video, I had the pleasure of hearing Artie’s pre-meet speech.  He comprehensively laid out the scoring possibilities so the team could see for themselves what had to be done in a way that empowered them to take control of the outcome.  No emotional BS.  

(Steve) Shisler’s mission was to re-establish, in his words, “a culture of achievement.”  Gilkes is extending and deepening that ethos.  As an SC alumnus, I am really grateful the young athletes again have outstanding coaches - including the event coaches, who genuinely care about guiding kids to steeper life trajectories through track and field.  During that championship Sunday, one could literally see guys mature and take a big step forward as they competed - not everything went as planned - and then put their hands on the prize.  Inspiring!     -Nick K.

State College Shows Off Depth

Not to be outdone by Penn State Track and Field Alumni, two present team members garnered awards for the season as well.  

Maddie Holmberg continued her great career and won the Mid-Atlantic Field Athlete of the Year.  She then set a PR at the NCAA Championships to place 9th in the Pentathlon. 

 Last, but not least, Danae Rivers backed up her Mid Atlantic Track Athlete of the Year award by winning the 800M at the NCAA Championships!

Danae used the tried and true tactic used by Dave Wottle in 1972, even splits, which took her from the middle of the pack to the victory in dramatic fashion.  Thus accentuating PSU is 800U! 

 Danae wins the 800M

Onward To Nationals!

Six Nittany Lions made it to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.  Remember, only the top sixteen individuals and the top 12 Relays can make it.  That's one of the hardest "makes" in all of track and field.

Women:

• Alexis Holmes   400M   
• Danae Rivers      800M
• Maddie Holmberg     Pentathlon

Men:

• Domenic Perretta     800M
• Morgan Shigo          Weight Throw
• David Lucas             Weight Throw 

PSU Is 800U: Keep On Truckin'

The Middle Distance Nittany Lions kept the tradition going strong at the 2019 Big Ten Indoor Championships in Ann Arbor. 

In the Womens event,  Danae Rivers made it three in a row of 800M indoor triumphs with a record run of 2:03.45.

“We asked her to run the 800 and both relays this weekend; she was really aggressive today and got the meet record." -Coach John Gondak.

In the Mens event, Dom Perretta sorta kinda took the baton from Isaiah Harris in a figurative sense (three time repeat winner), stood tall, and finished in a fine 1:48.24 in a very strong field.  That made 4 in a row and 10 of the last 12 800M titles for PSU!

From one champion to another!

Penn State Women: Tops Then And Tops Now

Yesterday's Women's Wannamaker Mile at the Millrose Games had as loaded a field as I have seen in an indoor event in quite a while.  Penn State's phenom Danae Rivers toed the line with all the best and came out with a PR, Penn State Record and NCAA leading time in the event.  And she was eighth at the finish!   4:29.47

Photo by Doreen Startare McCoubrie.

 
And former teammate Donnie Skerpon, father of Danae's current teammate Elyse Skerpon, posted this pic on the world wide web thingie yesterday.  It shows some Penn State Women Distance runners before the NCAA took over!  Fill in all the names and year in the comments or on our Facebook page and you could win a Platinum Membership Perk!

A School Record, A World Record, A Visit With Coach And a Very Good Meal

First up, the unbelievable Danae Rivers bettered her own 800M School Record at the Penn State National yesterday with the NCAA leading time for 2019, 2:02.94.  She also leads the nation in the 1000M with the Collegiate Record .

But up in NYC at the same time, Brannon Kidder turned in the fastest split on the Brooks Beasts team in the 4 x 1609M race (otherwise known as the 4 x Mile).  His third leg of approximately 3:56.8 (via Flotrack) set the team up to demolish the existing indoor world record!

Before the whole afternoon of invitational events at the Horace Ashenfelter Track. several Nittany Lion greats visited Coach Groves at his room to calm him down from the recent horrible events right outside his residence.  Mark Hawkins brought word of his 5:32 Mile at the track on Friday night AT THE AGE OF MUMBLE MUMBLE..

Greg Fredericks, Mark Hawkins and Larry Mangan with Coach Groves.

And to cap off my whirlwind and unexpected trip to State College for the meet, I had dinner with the wonderful Fredericks family. It just doesn't get any better than this! 

Greg, Jeffrey and Anne Fredericks. Many lobsters were harmed in the prelude to this photo!

PSU Is 1000 U?

With Danae Rivers' first meet of the Indoor Season, Penn State became the holder of both Collegiate Records in the 1000M run.  Previously, Brannon Kidder achieved the title for the Men with his 2:18.26 in 2016.  The record still stands.

Danae's record eclipsed the previous mark by more than 2 seconds with 2:38.58.

(In addition, Ryan Foster still holds the Australian National record for the event.)

Danae's strong performance during the XC season seems to indicate that even more wonderful things are in the works.  The combination of raw speed, increased endurance, and tactical experience are combining to make for an interesting future for Danae and all of us watching.

Some More Pics From The NCAA Regionals

Greg Fredericks sent me some exclusive photos from his vantage point at the Meet.

Alison Willingmyre

The PSU 1, 2 Place Finishers.

Turns out that Danae Rivers did not beat Alison Willingmyre at the Regionals, as Alison outleaned Danae at the finish.

I can't wait to talk about the many races that Greg had with my newest friend on the Interwebby thingie.  More to come...

NCAA XC Regionals Weekend

There was consistently cold and windy conditions across the East.  The weather added an extra challenge for the Nittany Lion Women.  But they came through and attained their 9th out of 10 years moving on to the Finals.

And Danae Rivers has added to her already great resume by placing first for the Women despite falling in the early race.  With her newly aquired range, she is becoming one of the greats of PSU Middle and Long Distance running.

Photo by John McGraw.

Oh, the carnage I! John McGraw photo

Oh, the carnage II! John McGraw photo

Brave and dedicated Alums! John McGraw photo

 In other news of the weekend...

• Mary Cate Curran's St. Lawrence team advanced to the Division III Finals at Dream Park in Southern Jersey.  I saw her at one point, but was unable to say hello.
• Daughter the Younger ran in her first XC NCAA race and learned the valuable lesson about going out too fast!  Hartwick improved on last year's performance.
• Rob Whiteside's daughter Phoebe placed highly in the Mid-Atlantic Regional in Bethlehem,  PA for her Swarthmore team.
• Martha White Collin's daughter Valerie also placed highly in the same race with her Carnegie Mellon team moving on to the Finals.
• John Ziegler and I suffered mightily through a long weekend of Podiatry CME lectures.  John's rewards were many, however.  I took him to lunch at Wegman's for Kung Pao Chicken and got him 50% off on a new pair of shoes at the King of Prussia Roadrunner Sports store! 

Daughter the Younger before the start.

Spouse the Better and John Ziegler.

Kudos Are Appropriate

There was a time several years ago when I wasted much time away from my day job to compile a listing of the times of competitions of Nittany Lions and ex-Nittany Lions at the USATF Championships.  And of course I was criticized when I messed up a little bit...   

But now, the PSU T&F Program itself has provided us with a complete listing!  I commend them thusly! And I will steal it to spread the word further.  Go Lions.

EVENT SCHEDULE

Thursday
Time (CDT)	Event	Competitor	Entry Mark	Seed
1:50 PM	W 3,000M Steeple (1st Round)	Tori Gerlach	9:55.52	14th
2:20 PM	W 800M (1st Round)	Danae Rivers	2:03.13	24th
2:40 PM	M 800M (1st Round)	Isaiah Harris	1:44.53	2nd
Friday
Time (CDT)	Event	Competitor
3:20 PM	M Hammer Throw	Morgan Shigo	72.47m	6th
3:50 PM	W 100M Hurdles (1st Round)	Evonne Britton	12.87	10th
6:50 PM	W 800M (Semis)	Danae Rivers
7:05 PM	M 800M (Semis)	Isaiah Harris
Saturday
Time (CDT)	Event	Competitor
10 AM	100M Hurdles - Hep	Maddie Holmberg
11 AM	High Jump - Hep	Maddie Holmberg
1:05 PM	Shot Put - Hep	Maddie Holmberg
2 PM	200M - Hep	Maddie Holmberg
2:10 PM	M Javelin Throw	Michael Biddle	73.02m	11th
		Michael Shuey	78.52m	2nd
2:20 PM	W 100M Hurdles (Semis)	Evonne Britton
2:45 PM	M Shot Put	Darrell Hill	22.44m	2nd
		Joe Kovacs	22.35m	3rd
3:20 PM	W 3,000M Steeple (Finals)	Tori Gerlach
4:52 PM	W 100M Hurdles (Finals)	Evonne Britton
Sunday
Time (CDT)	Event	Competitor
11:30 AM	Long Jump - Hep	Maddie Holmberg
12:50 PM	Javelin Throw - Hep	Maddie Holmberg
2:10 PM	W Shot Put	Rachel Fatherly	17.89m	12th
2:50 PM	800M - Hep	Maddie Holmberg
3:04 PM	W 800M (Finals)	Danae Rivers
3:13 PM	M 800M (Finals)	Isaiah Harris
Maddie Holmberg enters the heptathlon as the No. 5 seed (5,976 points). Italic events require qualification.

Four More All-Americans

The Nittany Lions ended up with 3 Men scoring and 3 Women scoring.  So that means both teams ended up with 3 First Team All-Americans.  The Men placed in a tie for 18th Place and the Women placed 24th.  Another very solid year for the blue and white!

For the Men, the only one not mentioned so far is David Lucas, who placed 7th in the Discus with 186' 7".  With his National title in the Indoor Weight Throw, it certainly was a great year.

Three Lady Lions (Are we still allowed to say that?) gathered points and All-American status.  They were led by Heptathlete Maddie Holmberg in 3rd.

Right behind her, placing 4th in the rainy High Jump was Megan McCloskey with a clutch clearance of 5' 10".

And Danae Rivers closed out her Sophomore year with 8th in the 1500M and 2 of her top 3 times ever.

The Latest Award For A PSU Track Athlete Really Pleases Me

Recently, three Penn State Track and Field athletes were honored with Athlete of the Year honors by the USTFCCCA.  High honors for the whole season for 3 really worthy student athletes.

• MID-ATLANTIC REGION MEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
  Isaiah Harris, a junior from Lewiston, Maine, is ranked second nationally in the 800 with a time of 1:45.31. The Big Ten champion in the event and Big Ten Championships record holder in the 800, he is headed to Tracktown next week. Harris also anchored the winning Sprint Medley Relay at the Penn Relays in 1:44.7.
• MID-ATLANTIC REGION WOMEN’S TRACK ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
  Danae Rivers, a sophomore from Derby, Connecticut, became the first Nittany Lion to win the Big Ten Championship in the 1500. Her time of 4:10.82 in the event at the Florida Relays set a school record and ranked fifth, nationally. She will compete in the 1500 at the NCAA Championships next week.
• MID-ATLANTIC REGION WOMEN’S FIELD ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
  Maddie Holmberg, a junior from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, ranked fifth nationally in the heptathlon this year with a point total of 5976. She finished second at the Big Ten Championships in the event, and will travel to the NCAA Championships next week. Holmberg also scored in the Long Jump with a mark of 6.37m (20-103/4).

And to top it off, Isaiah Harris has been recognized as an Academic All-American as a Kinesiology Major. These three represent their Alumni fans in our group with the best any of us could hope for! Kudos, all around.

Notice the Group Wrist Band put to wonderful use!