THE GOLF IS OPTIONAL, THE MIRTH IS REQUIRED! The only blog detailing PSU Track and Field, (not always great!) Golf, Physics topics and great videos at the same time! An eclectic mish-mash (mess) of just about everything imaginable. Penn State Track and Field Alumni Golfers have honored PSU Track/XC, Coach Harry Groves and abused golf courses throughout Happy Valley since 2002. Help spread the word!
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"...a blogger, who is just a bullsh*tter with an IP address."
-Anonymous, Ace of Spades Blog, 2021.
"Gutless and talentless. (sic) It's your trademark since 1977."
-Redacted, 2021.
"Friendship, physics, and philosophy---this blog has it all."
-Anonymous, 2011.
"I enjoy what you are doing with this blog. It is truly the only reason to have a Facebook account." -Darryl Jones.
"Light yourself on fire and then roll in broken glass to put out the fire!" -from Isaiah Harris's Twitter Feed, explaining how to replicate the feeling after an 800M race. "Even pit bulls call him Coach." -Brian Mount, reacting to a visit to Coach Groves from Hunter Backenstose's pit bull, Blanche.
"Your blog is amazing and I’ve always loved your humor. Thanks for continually bringing me a smile." -Don Ziter, two-time winner of the Coach Groves Golf Tournament.
"Your blog is amazing." -Bob Trump.
"Keep up the great work." -Nick Scarpello, after winning the 2016 Carlsbad 5K.
"Goodbye to all that. (Politics) I am turning into Jeremiah Johnson, a shunner." -Rob Whiteside, walking the Appalachian Trail.
"I'd rather see you laying in a gutter with your head split open than to see you run like that." -Coach Groves, following a poor showing of 800M runners at a Beaver Stadium Meet, late 70's.
"You do a fantastic job." -Phil Caraher.
"You are amazing at blogging." -Walt Chadwick.
"Best blog out there." -Phil Passen.
"...it tops all sites I've seen with its sense of humor." -George Brose, author of the website Once Upon a Time in the Vest, about our humble blog.
"Great post as usual DFB!" -Darryl Jones.
"You just don't f*** with a f*****." -sage advice from Coach Groves, as told to Tim Backenstose and me, 5/17/14.
"When I was a kid, I saw an illegal dice game in the bathroom at Franklin Field." -Matthew Groves, 2013, remembering the Penn Relays Carnival.
"Don't sit next to Balkey and Artie at a track meet...You'll end up talking about hockey for 3 hours." -Coach Groves to Rebecca Donaghue, 2013.
"The first 45 mile week I ever ran, I ran in the first 3 days at PSU- Thank you very much, Bruce Baden!" -Larry Mangan, 2012.
"If it takes longer than a paragraph, you don't have anything to say anyway." -Coach Grovesat the 2012 Track Alumni Dinner
"If you can't get excited for The Penn Relays than damn it, you aint got no soul!" -Coach Groves, as reported by Matt Lincoln at the 2012 Penn Relays.
"Athletics is for education and recreation, nothing else. Winning is important only in that you learn more." -Coach Harry Groves, 5/21/2011 at the Alumni "Run". "... for a brief time, I'm the greatest Track Coach in the world." -Coach Harry Groves, at his Retirement 2006.
"You must do something about the cheating!" -Coach Harry Groves, after golfing two holes with each foursome in 2009.
"We made Harry cry." -Randy Moore, remembering the 1985 Penn Relays 4 X 800.
"Even my mother calls me Coach." -Coach Harry Groves, circa 1977, whenever a student/athlete dared call him Harry.
In the early 90s, I had the opportunity to visit Zermatt, Switzerland for 2 days. It was a good trip, even with the migraine headache from altitude and the fog-enshrouded Matterhorn, which I never did see.
I saw the town's cemetery, where many are buried who didn't quite make it to the top and back. The best epitaph I saw was "He chose to climb", which echoes all the statements from relatives of deceased Everest climbers lately.
But these hardy climbers DID make it to the top and back (of Nittany Mountain!), renewing and strengthening the tradition of Penn State Track and Field Alumni (Non-golfers) started by Spouse the Better some years ago. They have augmented the festivities by inaugurating the certification of success with a signature on a special t-shirt just for the bestest among us!
Physicists have figured out the answer to the age old riddle of "what came first, the chicken or the egg".
And it's both! It has something to do with quantum Physics and evolution. I sum it up as this: An almost-a-chicken and another almost-a-chicken got together and did what almost-a-chickens do when Barry "Almost-a-chicken" White is grooving and an egg was created. But in that egg, a mutation of some small stature made what we call a chicken, and voila, we have an egg and a chicken at the same time.
Meanwhile, congrats to Doreen Statare McCoubrie in her American Record Age 55 Mile time of 5:30.31 !!! Unbelievable talent and range.
And here's my first foray into modeling. I got the oppotunityto pose with the Nittany Lion to promote the Grange Fairgrounds Campground. The billboard is on 322 just south of Seven Mountains. The Grange is a great place to tailgate for Nittany Lion games. Check it out.
The Alumni "Run" was sorta kinda a bust this year. Multiple forces conspired to make things that way. Apologies all around for the problems.
For the first time in our 17 years (except last year's hosting of the Big Ten Championships), the track was locked up tight. Never expected that.
Hastings Road was torn up and that made our usual parking area unavailable.
The team moved their practice time back an hour to take advantage of a break in the weather.
It rained the whole time.
But five hardy souls still managed a campus run, and the rest of us were ushered into the Indoor Track at 10:00AM to meet some of the athletes moving on to the Regional NCAA Championships.
Now what do I do with 4 dozen donuts and a nearly full "Box of Joe" still buried beneath my golf clubs in the back of my car?
Conditions at the Boston Marathon yesterday were about as bad as they have ever been. Temps in the 30s and 40s with constant rain, sometimes quite hard, were coupled with wind gusts in the opposite direction from that year that Ryan Hall ran under 2:05.
The conditions scattered the usual East African dominance, and American women captured 7 of the top 10 positions, including first and second place. A Japanese runner won the Mens race.
And through it all, Penn State Nittany Lion Doreen Startare McCoubrie ran her usual race, placing second in the Womens 55-59 age group in 3:17:26.
Be sure to get your entries in for the upcoming Reunion and Coach Groves Golf Tourney on May 18-19! You can use snail mail to Harry Smith or take just a $5 hit to send them in via PayPal or credit card. We need you there. And this year we are DOWNTOWN! For additional family members, add up permutations in post and use snail mail to: Harry Smith 508 Washington Avenue Elyria, OH 44035
This was the longest stretch between posts on the blog with it all. I have been very busy lately with a myriad of things and haven't had a vacation since January. It's starting to take a toll...
But I did come across some PSU Track Alumni (Golfers) in action over the weekend in a couple of races.
Tyler McCandless placed 10th in the Pittsburgh 10-Miler with a PR over the distance of 47:56.Welcome back east, and I hope you didn't bring Winter with you!
Tyler McCandless.
And numerous alums braved the uphill/downhill Cooper Norcross Run The Bridge 10K in Philly.
With all the conversation on Neely Spence-Gracey's marathon debut in 2:35:00 for ninth at the Boston Marathon, it would be easy to miss the top ten performance from one of our own.
Doreen McCoubrie ran a splendid 3:16:54 for tenth place in the over 50 age group! (That despite the fact that I swear she is in her early 30s.)
Congrats on a great run. Hope to see you at the upcoming Reunion!!!
Today, Michael Gross and Doreen Startare McCoubrie will be braving the Hopkinton to Boston Course. And at least one of them will be sporting a brand new Alumni Singlet. Good Luck out there. And remember my only marathoning advice: Start slow and taper off....
The Organization persisted for 2 years and some teams even ran in both Championships. But for all intents the NCAA sucker punched the AIAW in a bitter street fight (and Here) and stole everything. Title IX played a role in the demise of the female-only organization.
But Penn State was there on the line in Seattle, Washington at the 1980 AIAW Cross Country Championships, finishing in 4th place.
Heather Carmichael 24th 17:42
Mary Rawe 26th 17:44
Peggy Cleary 62nd 18:14
Patty Murnane 66th 18:16
Natalie Updegrove 69th 18:18
Doreen Startare 155th 18:58
Magda Kubasiewicz 193rd 19:29
This adds Mary Rawe to the ranks of the Greatest PSU Women Cross Country runners. (One of the main reasons I was persistent in getting these complete results!) The Final Rankings will be coming soon! Top Movies 1980:
And rightly so! Because these women are still running well today. I try to never disclose a woman's age, but won't prevent you from doing the math required.
First up, Janet Norem, who may have the Alumni (Golfer) record for miles run on the Continent of Africa. Somehow she ended up on the Left Coast from hometown Pittsburgh when she isn't overseas, and placed third in her age division at the USA San Diego Half-Marathon. At school, we probably spoke 3 or 4 words to each other, and she never realized how much I admired her. Still do. Someone who has done wonderful things for this world. A Nittany Lion ambassador of the finest order.
Janet Norem.
Secondly, and closer to home was Doreen (Statare) McCoubrie's age-groupvictory at the Philadelphia Half-Marathon in an unbelievable time of 1:27 and change. Doreen has been a big help with our Mid-Atlantic Division USATF team.
The Math Intern is redeemed and was finally allowed out of the basement when he finished the calculations for the Womens version of the All-Time Best list.
The criteria for the Womens list are similar to those used for the Men. The main difference is that runners in the top-50 of any NCAA Championships were included. (Sorry Patty Murnane, 51st in 1978!) This also excludes PSU greats like Kathy Mills, Peggy Cleary and Liz Berry who ran before the NCAA included women. Hey, hey, hey! We don't want to exclude the AIAW Women. We would love to merge those results into the NCAA results. If anyone has access to full results from the AIAW years, please let us know!!!! Let's keep the Intern busy.
The Criteria:
All PSU runners finishing in the top 50 of an NCAA Championship Meet
are included.
Points are awarded in a reverse order of their finish. A 50th place
finish is worth 1 point and a first place finish is worth 50 points.
This skews the results toward those that run in multiple NCAA
Championships. But placing high still means the most.
Tiebreakers: a) # of appearances in NCAAs top 50 and b) most recent to oldest.
Each year's finishing point total from earlier is multiplied by a factor defined as:
# of Finishers in Race Year (x)
# of Finishers in 2009 (254)
The Top Penn State Women NCAA Cross Country Runners Of All-Time:
Bridget Franek - 23rd 2008, 26th 2009 for 52.8 points.
Susanne Heyer - 14th 2000 for 36.7 points.
Caitlin Lane - 16th 2011 for 35.0 points.
Stacia Perry - 23rd 1985, 41st 1987, 31st 1988 for 30.1 points.
Kimberly Kelly - 27th 1992, 35th 1994 for 28.4 points.
Kimberly McGreevy - 28th in 1996 for 19.4 points.
Heather Carmichael - 31st 1981, 43rd 1983 for 13.1 points.
Doreen Startare - 28th in 1982 for 12.0 points.
Kelli Hunt - 42nd 1992, 44th 1993 for 11.4 points.
Colleen Glyde - 41st 1992 for 7.1 points.
Wendy Nelson - 43rd 1990 for 5.6 points.
Torri Perri - 47th 2012 for 4.0 points.
Erin St. John - 46th 1994 for 3.6 points.
Jennifer Weaver - 46th 1993 for 3.6 points.
Meredith White - 45th 1984 for 2.6 points.
Torri Perri, 2012.
Doreen Startare, left, 1982.
Caitlin Lane, 2011.
Bridget Franek, 2008, 2009.
Kathy Mills, pre-NCAA Legend.
Heather Carmichael, front, training with Arthur Lydiard.
Doreen Startare McCoubrie shows off her Alumni Singlet!
Another round of Alumni Singlet sales will be coming once us Idiot Officers get together at the Reunion and Coach Groves Tourney. Join us on May 15 and 16! Remember there are also T-Shirts available, and we may just add a jacket next time! Let me know if you are interested.
A really great photo! Michael Shuey
The addition of the Javelin corps and the Multi-Eventers make the team even more formidable than the Indoor version!
The USATF Club XC Championships were yesterday at the Lehigh course. And there was a big Nittany Lion influence. Most of you know I'm on my own for the most part, and stressed beyond belief for time and energy. So I'm not here today to bring you all the details, but I will distribute some tasty tidbits I've come across and then hope others step up to fill in the gaps!
Tyler McCandless started poorly in last year's race and vowed to do better this year. So he led the pack at the 1-mile mark this year. He faded some and ended up in 40th at 30:21.76 on the 10,200M course. He was still happy, having taken the chance, and as in his meteorology doctorate courses, learned a valuable lesson. His Boulder Running Co. team was fifth overall.
Owen Dawson was the first Nittany Lion with a very nice 30:01.23 for 22nd place. Brother Kyle Dawson finished in 31:09.56 for 91st place. The Bryn Mawr Running Club ended up 10th.
Kyle, left, and Owen Dawson, 3rd form left.
Doreen McCoubrie finished 2nd in the Women's 50 and over Division (am I allowed to say that?).
Other Nittany Lions were represented in the Nittany Valley Running Club, along with a recovered Beer Miler!
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#2762 Foster, Kara 24 Unattached 20:28.30
51
#1528 Herndon, Elizabeth 29 Cleveland El 20:59.58
Our Director of FunTeddy Quinn pointed me to the article highlighting the fact that this year's championships will have the largest field ever at the Lehigh course in Saucon Valley. And right there at the top of the article is a nice pic of our very own Track Alumni Golfer Kyle Dawson, leading the pack!
I told Teddy that if it wasn't a Dawson it would be a Fuller!
Joining him at the event will be John Evans, who will be lacing them up representing our very own USATF team! Thanks, John. He relates that his expectations are muted, but I assured him that getting to the starting line means he has already won in my book. Have a good run!
Also there will be Doreen (Startare) McCoubre, who happens to be the Grand Poobah of the entire Mid-Atlantic Division of the USATF, of which our team is part. Her help was integral to having a team representation in the USATF. Thanks Doreen!
2023 Indoor National Champion, Olympic Silver Medalist 2016, 2020(21), 2024 2-time World Champion and 2022, 2023 Diamond League Champion, 2023 Bronze Medalist World Championship
"First Light"- I took the best photo of the Lion Shrine I've ever seen!*
click on photo to download and then go ahead and print a masterpiece on your own! *(except the one with the naked twins in the 70's!)
Web Site Idiot and Herder of Cats
