Winter Runs Are Better With Mittens

Jim "Frit" Cooper recently brought us some exclusive pics from the NCAA Regional XC Meet at Lehigh.  And he has added another post for us to reminisce about those cold State College days of yore!

He relates that former PSU Marathon Record Holder George Christopher had a big bag of his grandmother's knitted mittens in his locker to hand out to all those unprepared runners going out to "do 10" in the cold.  How many of you remember these?

For many years I ran in a pair knitted for me by Heather Carmichael as a Christmas present in 1978. And since she was from a place with more sheep than people, you know they were great.  They were even blue and white!  I'm still looking for them to take a pic.  But since I now run on the treadmill most of the time, I have misplaced them...

My Choice Of The Hardest Track Race* And Maybe We Are All Wrong!

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I received quite a few responses to the query of "What is the hardest track event?"  Some came via the Facebook site, some in comments and others in personal contact from the hermits among our group.  The various nominations included:

• 800M, specifically an all-out for time race.
• 400M
• 3000M Steeplechase
• 400M Intermediate Hurdles
• Pole Vault.  (Even though we hadn't originally included field!)

I have done most of those events (or tried to) and here are my remembrances:

1. 800M - This was always easy for me, but I must admit I never really tried to run an all-out 800M.  In high school, I always ran at least 3 events and sometimes 4.  Several times, I ran 2 1:59/2:00 880Y's on the same day, less than an hour apart, along with a mile and 2-mile thrown in. I won every 1/2 mile I ran Senior year except the last one I tanked so a friend could win his only race of his career.  Had to run 2:06 that day.  The Gist: Not the hardest, but I can see it being brutal for the likes of Cas Loxsom, Brannon Kidder, Ryan Foster, Owen Dawson and Isaiah Harris!  
2. 400M - The only timed 400M I ever ran (although it was regularly used as a threat by my high school coach) was on the Nittany Lion Track during a work-out.  Coach Groves made us start out with an all-out 400M in lanes and everything! I tied with the known speedster John Zeigler in 54.3.  I know, quite pitiful.  I remember it hurting like crazy for more than 150M, even as I thought I held form quite well. Took quite a while to feel better, too.  Can't imagine what it feels like for the best.  The Gist: I can see this as the hardest of races.
3. 3000M Steeplechase - Ran a bunch of these at all-comers meets in Millersville. I had never even jumped over a hurdle before I tried it.  I am a terrible hurdler, although I am tremendous on the water jump.  Because of that, I created a technique for just tapping the barriers with one foot to clear it without actually stepping on it like with the water jump.  I never was coordinated enough to do it with either foot reliably, so it didn't always help much.  My best race was actually in front of Arthur Lydiard and Heather Carmichael.  Mr. Lydiard actually praised me for my waterjump technique and had me run a warm-down with Heather who was in the States to find a college to attend.  That she ended up coming to PSU may partially be because of me.  Although we were friends, I never asked her about that.  But she did make me a pair of mittens for Christmas that I still have and used to run winter runs with.  The Gist: a very hard race, but the risk of injury and difficulty of hurdling made it hard for me to max out my endurance.  The top guys, of course, get closer to max, but even then most of them never look "all in" when they are done.
4. 400M Hurdles - Combine a miserable distance with hurdles that are still way too high and I can see this as a very hard race.  The Gist:  Never ran it and never will, so I will never know!
5. Pole Vault - Back in my lithe youth, I couldn't even carry a 16 foot pole down the runway and wouldn't know what to do with it if I could.  The Gist:  This was the hardest event of all.

But it is possible that all of us are wrong. Possibly, this is the hardest race of all.  Mostly because marriage is just an entry requirement!

The Final Listing Of The Greatest Penn State Womens Cross Country Runners Of All Time, Just In Time For Christmas Unwrapping

With the combination of the AIAW results from 1975-1980 and the NCAA results from 1981 to the present, we finally have complete results of the Womens Collegiate Championships.  Those who finished in the top 50 of any of those Championships are included in the rankings.  A complex, flawed and arbitrary method was used to rank them according to my whim and mood.  I was persistent to find all these results so that I could include some friends I have actually run some miles with.  Merry Christmas to Patty, Mary, Kathy, Liz, Kris and Heather.

1. Kathy Mills Parker - 3rd 1976, 1st 1977, 3rd 1978, 4th 1979 for 179.6 points.
2. Liz Berry Larsen - - 15th 1975, 11th 1976 and 16th 1977 for 97.3 points. 
3. Kris Bankes - 3rd 1975, 43rd 1976, 15th 1977 for 79.6 points. 
4. Heather Carmichael - 8th 1979, 24th 1980, 31st 1981, 43rd 1983 for 77.6 points. 
5. Bridget Franek - 23rd 2008, 26th 2009 for 52.8 points.
6. Susanne Heyer - 14th 2000 for 36.7 points.
7. Caitlin Lane - 16th 2011 for 35.0 points.
8. Liz Cunningham Kisenwether - 12th 1975 for 33.5 points.
9. Stacia Prey - 23rd 1985, 41st 1987, 31st 1988 for 30.1 points. 
10. Kimberly Kelly Segiel - 27th 1992, 35th 1994 for 28.4 points.
11. Patty Murnane Nosack - 24th 1979 for 26.4 points.
12. Mary Rawe Rapp - 26th 1980 for 20.1 points.
13. Kimberly McGreevy - 28th in 1996 for 19.4 points. 
14. Donna Gardner - 34th 1976 for 13.1 points.
15. Tessa Barrett - 38th 2015 for 13.0 points. 
16. Doreen Startare McCoubrie - 28th in 1982 for 12.0 points.
17. Kelli Hunt - 42nd 1992, 44th 1993 for 11.4 points. 
18. Colleen Glyde - 41st 1992 for 7.1 points. 
19. Wendy Nelson - 43rd 1990 for 5.6 points.
20. Eileen Meenan - 45th 1975 for 5.2 points.
21. Torri Perri - 47th 2012 for 4.0 points. 
22. Erin St. John - 46th 1994 for 3.6 points. 
23. Jennifer Weaver - 46th 1993 for 3.6 points. 
24. Meredith White - 45th 1984 for 2.6 points. 

1980 Marked The Virtual End Of The AIAW: (With Movie and Song!)

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.

1. Heather Carmichael          24th    17:42
2. Mary Rawe                       26th    17:44
3. Peggy Cleary                    62nd    18:14
4. Patty Murnane                  66th     18:16
5. Natalie Updegrove           69th     18:18
6. Doreen Startare              155th     18:58
7. 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:

1. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back  (now Episode 5)    "Luke, I am your father."
2. Raging Bull     "You didn't get me down, Ray." (meaning Sugar Ray Robinson beat him to a pulp, but he never went down.)
3. Airplane     "Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?"

Top Songs 1980:

1. Call Me - Blondie 
2. Another Brick In The Wall - Pink Floyd 
3. Magic - Olivia Newton-John 

 

Another Third Place In The AIAW Championships: 1979

Top Movies 1979:

1. Apocalypse Now   " I love the smell of napalm in the morning."
2. Alien     " The pit is completely enclosed. And it's full of leathery objects, like eggs or something."
3. Mad Max     "I am the Nightrider. I'm a fuel injected suicide machine. I am the rocker, I am the roller, I am the out-of-controller!"

Top Songs 1979:

1. My Sharona - The Knack
2. Bad Girls - Donna Summer
3. Le Freak - Chic 

Two Nittany Lions placed in the top 10 of the 1979 AIAW Cross Country Championships.  Fourth place finisher Kathy Mills was joined by Heather Carmichael in 8th place.  The team finished in third behind first time winner North Carolina State and Oregon.

This cements Patty Murnane's name on the listing of Greatest PSU Womens XC Runners. Coming Soon.

Is This The Final Listing Of The Greatest Penn State Womens Cross Country Runners Of All-Time?

Short Answer:  Probably Not! 

I'm going to go ahead and add partial results of the 1979 AIAW Championships to the list.  But I will still make efforts to get the full results of 1975, 1976, 1978 and 1979. And 1980 is still missing too. I don't want to miss any of the women finishing in the top 50 but not making All-American status as per the original criteria.

As I suspected, Heather Carmichael (and Here) moves up on the list with the inclusion of 1979, while Kathy Mills Parker moves further ahead of the pack.

Greatest Penn State Womens Cross Country Runners (AIAW and NCAA) Of All-Time

(Red indicates changes from the last version.)

1. Kathy Mills Parker - 3rd 1976, 1st 1977, 3rd 1978, 4th 1979 for 179.6 points.
2. Liz Berry Larsen - - 15th 1975, 11th 1976 and 16th 1977 for 97.3 points. 
3. Kris Bankes - 3rd 1975, 15th 1977 for 74.4 points. 
4. Heather Carmichael - 8th 1979, 31st 1981, 43rd 1983 for 54.9 points. 
5. Bridget Franek - 23rd 2008, 26th 2009 for 52.8 points.
6. Susanne Heyer - 14th 2000 for 36.7 points.
7. Caitlin Lane - 16th 2011 for 35.0 points.
8. Liz Cunningham Kisenwether - 12th 1975 for 33.5 points.
9. Stacia Prey - 23rd 1985, 41st 1987, 31st 1988 for 30.1 points. 
10. Kimberly Kelly Segiel - 27th 1992, 35th 1994 for 28.4 points.
11. Kimberly McGreevy - 28th in 1996 for 19.4 points. 
12. Tessa Barrett - 38th 2015 for 13.0 points. 
13. Doreen Startare McCoubrie - 28th in 1982 for 12.0 points.
14. Kelli Hunt - 42nd 1992, 44th 1993 for 11.4 points. 
15. Colleen Glyde - 41st 1992 for 7.1 points. 
16. Wendy Nelson - 43rd 1990 for 5.6 points.
17. Torri Perri - 47th 2012 for 4.0 points. 
18. Erin St. John - 46th 1994 for 3.6 points. 
19. Jennifer Weaver - 46th 1993 for 3.6 points. 
20. Meredith White - 45th 1984 for 2.6 points. 

Top Penn State (NCAA-Era) Womens Cross Country Runners Of All-Time

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:

1. All PSU runners finishing in the top 50 of an NCAA Championship Meet are included.
2. 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.
3. 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:

1. Bridget Franek - 23rd 2008, 26th 2009 for 52.8 points.
2. Susanne Heyer - 14th 2000 for 36.7 points.
3. Caitlin Lane - 16th 2011 for 35.0 points.
4. Stacia Perry - 23rd 1985, 41st 1987, 31st 1988 for 30.1 points.
5. Kimberly Kelly - 27th 1992, 35th 1994 for 28.4 points.
6. Kimberly McGreevy - 28th in 1996 for 19.4 points.
7. Heather Carmichael - 31st 1981, 43rd 1983 for 13.1 points.
8. Doreen Startare - 28th in 1982 for 12.0 points.
9. Kelli Hunt - 42nd 1992, 44th 1993 for 11.4 points.
10. Colleen Glyde - 41st 1992 for 7.1 points.
11. Wendy Nelson - 43rd 1990 for 5.6 points.
12. Torri Perri - 47th 2012 for 4.0 points.
13. Erin St. John - 46th 1994 for 3.6 points.
14. Jennifer Weaver - 46th 1993 for 3.6 points.
15. 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.

Another Academic Honor By Marriage

Way back, even before I made it to PSU, I met Heather Carmichael at an all-comers meet at Millersville.  She was there with Arthur Lydiard scouting out colleges for his "girls".  I had the pleasure of meeting both of them after I won the 2-Mile and the Steeplechase that day.  Took a nice warm-down run with her when she said she was leaning toward PSU, where I had just found out that Coach Groves would allow me to walk on.  Small world!  I still have one of the mittens Heather made for me in 1978.  Apparently, knitting is easy for someone from a land where sheep outnumber people 2 to 1.


Our Official Physicist and great friend Brian Boyer sent me word of her husband Tom Richardson's recent honor of a Penn State Alumni  Fellow Award.

Heather Carmichael, foreground, with Arthur Lydiard.

Velveteen Playboy Challenges The Links

Velveteen Playboy lead singer and vertical motion expert (that's high jumper for us vertically challenged distance guys!) Paul Souza has signed up for his first Harry Groves Golf Tournament. Maybe he will stimulate other lazy, shiftless field events performers to partake in the festivities and help deforest The Elks Club greenery. (Just kidding guys, you can still break me in half I'm sure.)

 I have encountered Mark Heckel (featured in a previous "Where Are They Now" segment). Heather (Carmichael) Richardson checked in from sunny New Zealand. Jake Bartholomy, James Carney, Bob Radzwich, Artie Gilkes and Phillip Passen touched base with me. I'll continue to work on them all. It's for Coach, after all.

*Political opinions or commentary are really quite worthless at this point. And still frowned on by blog hierarchy.

Where Are they Now?

I'm going to throw some names out there and hope some of you can answer the question for me. Where are they now? We would love to hear from you guys (and gals)!

Kelly (Kevin) O'Brien: I think I heard he's in Texas. Always remember him running the 150 mile week my sophomore year. That and "odorizing" the van on the way back from William and Mary my freshman year.

Mike Wyatt: A great guy. He gave me a pair of spikes my junior year that magically made me faster. Never got to say thanks. He also was the only one to stop and help me the numerous times I sprained my ankles on 10 milers. We could use another sub-4 miler!

Tom Clarke: Ex-president of Nike, Inc. Was one of only two people who congratulated me after running my best PR at PSU. Took the time to know I did it, and found me later to acknowledge it. Tried to help me get a summer job with Dr. Cavanaugh testing shoes, but he wouldn't hire me when I didn't know who my academic advisor was. Never met the guy actually, so why would I know his name!

Mark Parker: Current CEO of Nike, Inc. Took me on one of my first runs at PSU. We ran a "10 miler" which consisted of 90 minutes at 6:00 pace in the pine barrens and we still had 3 miles to go! Married to Kathy Mills, still the PSU 5000 meter record holder.

Ray Krombel: Always liked Ray a lot. He ran and looked like Nick Rose. He won the State 2-mile the year before me. Inspired me a little bit. I think he's back in Wilkes-Barre, a political hot-bed this year.

Dave Felice: Now the Fire Inspector in State College. Coaches runners at the high school. Ran into him after one of the golf outings at church. One of the few people that still recognized me despite my increase in size! He helped bring Jessica out of the well in Texas back in the 80's!

Heather Carmichael: Met her before she even came to PSU. She made me a pair of mittens for Christmas one year which I still have.

Liz Berry: Scared the hell out of a lot of us at the Nittany Valley Marathon one year. She ran one of the top US women's marathon times up until then (in the cold weather) that year. Coach was right behind her, kicking the team's a** and taking names!

Jim Clelland: Jim was quiet but when you did hear him he was funny and smart. He fell out of the van one day on the way to practice. Another great van story!

Brian Boyer: Brian is now at the Los Alamos facility guarding our nuclear secrets. More alums know Brian than any other alum the program has ever had!

Ted Lyons: Ted was hilarious at times and a pretty decent runner. Never did know what he was majoring in.

John (JB) Barber: John is in Pottstown. He has coached and positively influenced more young people than just about any of us. Gave John a big hug at Harry's retirement. John ran with us and then became Coach's right-hand man.

Ricky Garcia: Ricky hopes to make it to next year's event. I think he's back in suburban DC again now. A unique and talented runner.

Mark Dunmire: Won the state one mile the same year as my 2-mile. Was one of the marathoners that had to hustle in ahead of Coach at the 79 NVTC Marathon. Coach was chewing his a** the whole last mile!

Mark Heckel: We called him "Beef" on our dorm floor, and he could eat with the best of them. Threw the hammer better than most. Was also in the Blue Band, I believe. I know he still is a track official. Don't know if he golfs.

Paul Stemmer: One hell of a runner. Heard many great "Stem" stories over the years. If only 10% are true, it's still a fine record. I think he majored in Poker. I'm sure Malmo could spin a yarn or two for us some day.

Paul Lankford: Always seemed like a nice guy, but didn't get to interact with him much because of the football/track commitments he had. Had a lengthy pro career with the Dolphins. I remember Don Skerpon running the shuttle hurdles relay with him at Penn.

Glenn (sp?) Chumley: Could run 1:53 every Wednesday and 1:58 every Saturday! Who could forget the great photo of him in the Collegian streaking down College Ave. in the snow, circa 1978.

Barry Enright: Wish we would hear from Barry, but apparently he isn't physically able to leave New Jersey or he might explode, like the guy in the new Transporter 3 movie! (Just having fun, Barry, drop us a line).

Use the comment section below to fill us in on any of these blasts from the past and add some new ones!

*Photos are of Nick Rose in the 70's and the 00's, having nothing to do with nothing.

Steeplechasers Unite!

Arthur Lydiard watches Heather Carmichael (foreground) and "His Girls" bounding hills, circa 1978. Heather won the Peachtree Road Race soon after.


I hope to make next year's outing the Year of the Steeplechaser. So far my efforts have been fruitless, but I refuse to give up. I'm looking to get all the best steeplechasers together for next year's golf outing. Let's see if any of them can drain a twenty-footer! My best steeplechase was actually run during high school at a summer all-comers meet in Millersville PA. In attendance was future Penn Stater Heather Carmichael and her coach, Arthur Lydiard. He actually said "good race" afterward. If he had only known that after specific training for it in college, I could never equal that whim of a race! (I know, pitiful.)

Oh you people of little faith, I pity you. This video is not of me running a high school steeplechase. View this in order to know that you should wear spikes when running
a steeplechase. I can't believe no one viewed this yet!


Kid Fails At Steeplechase - Watch more free videos

A belated hello to Kyle Bernhardy, PSU Track alum of the 90's, now living in Costa Rica! One mystery is solved, but others remain. What is the state of Track and Field in Costa Rica? And what about golf in Central America? Let us know what's going on there. How hot is it? Welcome to the world of PSU Track Alumni Golf.