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.
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.
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!
26
#2762 Foster, Kara 24 Unattached 20:28.30
51
#1528 Herndon, Elizabeth 29 Cleveland El 20:59.58
"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".
With Coach Groves' words, we must point out that Penn State is excelling not only on the track, but in the classroom and in the world beyond.
Penn State's academic success was honored recently with a record number of Spring Academic All-Big Ten athletes in all sports. But at the head of the class were 2 PSU Track athletes with perfect 4.0 grade-point averages, also tops in the Big Ten, Emily Giannotti and Katie Rodden. A tip of my cap goes to both.
Emily Giannotti
Katie Rodden
Thirty-four track and field athletes attained All-Big Ten honors:
Of personal note are the superb performances of Olivia Mangan, daughter of our Chief Laundry and Morale Officer Larry Mangan, our very own newest AuthorNick Scarpello, and Jonathan Hendershot, son of former Holder of the Golden PutterDennis Hendershot, And Baseballs Taylor Skerpon, son of vaulter Don Skerpon.
The NCAA East Regional Preliminaries begin tomorrow in muggy Jacksonville, FL. The one and only chance to qualify for the Big Dance two weeks from now.
The Nittany Lions are in a good spot to qualify multiple athletes and hopefully improve in the standings. Heading into this weekend the USTFCCCA has the men are ranked 17th and the women 16th. Accepted entries for the men and women with Penn State well represented.
One woman in good position, competing in the 10,000 meters, for post graduation life is Emily Giannotti. Emily has been named Penn State's Big Ten Medal of Honor Recipient, awarding athletic and academic excellence. The award goes with the Ernest B. McCoy Memorial Award she received earlier this year.
Also receiving an award tonight is Dan Jordan as the recipient of the SAAB Above and Beyond Award! pic.twitter.com/tijo4PLXf8
— PennStateTFXC(@PennStateTFXC) April 16, 2014
And that's not all. Congrats to Steve Waithe and Mahagony Jones for earning Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors.
Well, not really Ron Burgundy. Probably even better. Rock stars get all the luck and Paul Souza is a rock star. So he gets to pretend he's Ron Burgundy after a taping for a morning show. I get to schlub another day working on people's feet. But Paul's hair used to be much better than Ron's...
Breaking News, "I'm not wearing pants!"!
The Spiked Shoe Meet was held yesterday evening with PSU Women sweeping another one and the Men coming in second with several top runners being held out. Robby Creese continues his fine opening to the 2013 XC season with a 25:50 on the 5.2 Mile Course (8K). Emily Giannotti placed first in 21:17 on the 6K course.
Photo stolen from Nick Scarpello who was held out of the race.
And Addendum: Just showing how "Hep" I am with Mainstream Memes. Here's a great photoshop featuring the frog from the Satellite launch tripping Mary Decker in that famous race. Made me chuckle anyway. (and for all you barefoot enthusiasts out there, Zola Budd wears shoes now...)
Matt Fischer (just left of center) toes the line. Photo by Nick Scarpello.
I notice things. Sometimes I pick up on a meme before others. Sometimes, it's even significant when I do. I picked up on this meme several years ago and have trumpeted it before.
Penn State Track and Field Athletes continue to improve during their careers as well as any athletes in any College in the Nation.
Sometimes there are athletes like me who start out with humble talent, and sometimes there are athletes with unbelievable talent. But invariably, PSU Track athletes attain their ultimate potential under the current coaching staff as well as anywhere in the US. Hats off to everyone.
Yesterday, the distance corps demonstrated this on a grand scale at the Stanford Invitational. All seven (one short of eight, get it?) attained a PR on their first performance of the outdoor season. My congrats to everyone.
Matt Fischer 14:01.23 5000 M
Tyler Corkedale 14:20.06 5000 M
Nick Scarpello 14:23.08 5000 M
Natalie Bower 16:12.88 5000 M
Tori Gerlach 16:28.51 5000 M
Emily Giannotti 34:54.26 10000 M
Abbie Benson 10:33.30 3000 M SC
And the real Elite 8 has decimated Montgomery Baskwill's early round prognostication performance. He's now just an also-ran. I notice only a couple of Track Alumni Golfers in the top echelon with Zeb Stewart garnering a current 6th place in Ken Cooper's annual pool. Group friend Ron "Bile" Ferguson also seems to be in a drivers seat of sorts, still having his winner in the final eight.
Both the Mens and Womens Cross Country teams have been honored with All-Academic Awards from the USTFCCCA. This is for their overall 3.28 GPA and fielding more than 5 runners at the NCAA Regionals. Congrats.
Torri Perri, Leigha Anderson and Emily Gianotti were honored individually for the Lions. Sam Masters, fresh from All-Big Ten finishes in the 3000M and 5000M at the Indoor Championships, was honored for the men.
I can't imagine any of the teams back in my day garnering an overall 3.28 GPA, but I could be wrong. I do know we needed the combined 33 years* of eligibility of Gary Black and Brian Boyer to keep our GPA anywhere close to that.
Here's a little advice from the smartest of our group from back in the day, Delta's resident genius Stork.
Here's some updates on the Watch List of PSU entries in the Penn Relays:
Mens Championship of America Sprint Medley Relay - Returning Champions!
Mens Championship of America 4 x 800 - My favorite event (Longest standing Event Record at Penn)
Mens Championship of America 4 x 400 - The Quintessential Track Event.
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)
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)
Women's Championship Hammer - Leading Thrower in the Big Ten! Update: Melissa Kurzdorfer for the Win! And a Watch!
62.53m (205-1)
Mens Champiopnship Shot Put - A strong duo.
And in addition there were plenty of PR's on the track at distance night!
Womens 3000M SC - Emily Giannotti 2nd Place College Division 10:28.82,
Abbie Benson 5th Place College Division 10:35.5,
Natalie Bower 2nd in Championship Heat 10:14.27,
Lindsey Graybill 7th in Championship Division 10:29.97.
Mens 5000M - Kyle Dawson 6th in Championship Division 14:04.36, Vince McNally 8th in Championship Division 14:06.94,
Chris Cipro 19th in Championship Division 14:30.43,
Matt Fischer 24th in Champuionship Division 14:38.42, Alums:
Dennis Pollow Jr 6th in Olympic Development Division 14.26.68.
Mens 10000M -
Tom Luff 18th in Championship Division 30:36.77 Alums: Tyler McCandless 10th in Olympic Development Division
30:33.64.
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!)
