Distance Night Performances

Here's all the PSU related distance results from the 2016 Penn Relays by place (just to mess with your mind).

• Tessa Barrett                  2nd place   5000M        16:08.11
• Jillian Hunsberger          4th place  5000M    16:27.39
• Brian Fuller (Alumni)    7th place  5000M    14:38.25
• Colin Abert                     9th place   5000M         14:10.66
• Ean Disilvio                    9th place   3000M SC    9:06.25
• Timothy McGowan       11th place   5000M      14:10.94
• John Dugan                    13th place  3000M SC    9:13.90
• Kyle Dawson (Alumni) 14th place   5000M  14:46.33
• John McGowan             20th place   5000M     14:23.09
• Wade Endress                24th place   5000M     14:28.83

And a special note for Don Skerpon's daughter Elyse Skerpon, who was 2nd in her heat of the 400M H!

• Elyse Skerpon                32nd place  400M H     1:03.53
• Rachel DeCecco             44th place   400M H     1:04.89

Owen Dawson Rocking The Alumni Singlet: And One Last Tribute

Owen Dawson has been hard at work for the Penn State Track Team, but has
still found the time to stay in terrific shape.  He has even moved up in distance at the Stanford Twilight Meet, an exciting change considering he wore his Alumni Singlet too! (Ean Disilvio in the same race, and confuses the announcers to no end because of our Alumni Singlet!!!)

Owen Dawson Rocks The Alumni Singlet! Men's 5k, Heat 1

And my last tribute to Prince... Now that word has leaked of Prince's rather tortured existence since the early 1980's, Eric Clapton's life comes into even more remarkable focus. Eric wrote his song Holy Mother after watching Purple Rain during a rather low point in his life, and credited it with helping bring him out of a deep depression.

Diamonds (are a) Girls, Best Friend(s)

Joe Kovacs added to his haul of awards this year with the Diamond League Championship in the Shot Put Competition.  "Hey Joe, where are you going with that trophy in your hand..."

The Womens Team won the Coach Harry Groves Spiked Shoe Invitational in State College against some higher ranked competition.   They were paced by race winner, Tori Gerlach.

The Mens Team performed well, placing third behind Syracuse and Michigan. Ean DiSilvio placed 7th to lead the Lions.

The PSU Alumni Team placed 5th in the team competition with Brian Fuller leading the way in 22nd place.  Others on the team were Joey Walls, Mark Fuller, Kevin Fuller, Chris Cipro and co-blogger Matt Groves.  Casimir Loxsom acted as coach, trainer and captain for the squad.  Thanks for representing the rest of us sloths!

Cas Loxsom, Kevin Fuller, Mark Fuller, Brian Fuller, Chris Cipro, Matt Groves and Joey Walls.

I missed the meet as I was in Pittsburgh for my daughter's PSUAC race in McKeesport.  It turns out 2 of her best friends and high school teammates were also there.  ( running for University of Pitt Johnstown, Mt. Aloysius College and Penn State Mont Alto.)

Marta, Lauren and Daughter the Elder representing York Suburban High.

Some Real Photos For Once! From The Wings Of A Gator (or something)

Mark Hawkins made it to the NCAA Regional Meet at PSU last week and brings us many, many photos to peruse on his Facebook site.  I've selected a few to highlight on the blog with it all.

Here's the aforementioned Gator.  Notice all the smiling blokes (are Aussies blokes too?).  They are smiling because they will alll be inside the Gator's warm cocoon while Mark sits in the back working his shutter!

Here's a smattering of Nittany Lions captured by the CMOS (or is it CCD?) of Mark's behemoth.

Ean Disilvio.

Matt Fischer.

Wade Endress.

Austin Pondel and Tony Russel.

Glen Burkhardt.

All photos by Mark Hawkins.

Best Ever B1G Finish For Men (Tied with 2000 finish)

"If you're better than the Big Ten, then you're a professional," ·

 "The competition is so awesome, you'll crap in your pants." 

"There are no gifts in the Big Ten. You have to earn every point and every place."

-Coach Harry R. Groves, on the competition in the Big Ten

The Penn State Men placed third in the Big Ten XC Championships in Iowa City, Iowa today.  The duo of Matt Fischer and Glen Burkhardt provided the important team lead with their 8th and 11th place finishes.  Wade Endress (19), Tony Russel (25) and Robby Creese (29) rounded out the scoring.  They also had the best spread of all teams with 27.5 seconds!

Ean Disilvio (49), Brannon Kidder (78), Bobby Hill (88), and Austin Pondel (93) also ran well.

Our congrats to Coach John Gondak and the entire team. (I include those who didn't make the trip as well. The importance of everyone involved is a big part of our Alumni efforts.  We really understand the commitment, dedication and hard work that all of this entails.) With 8 of the 9 runners able to compete next year, things are looking up for the Nittany Lions.

   Mens 8k