Isaiah Harris and Rachel Gearing made appearances in the 800M Semis at the USATF Championships in Eugene yesterday. Rachel was there following her School Record 2:01.24 in the Prelim Round. And this continues Isaiah's streak of never failing to make the Finals in the 800M since his Freshman season at PSU.
But there are plenty of others in the mix at Tracktown:
A few Penn State Track and Field Alumni (Golfers) were featured at the USATF NY Grand Prix.
And Darrell came through with his real Alumni Singlet in the action!!! Thanks, Darrell.
PSU Track Alumni (Golfers) snagged one National Championship and a runner-up spot at the recent Indoor Championships out west.
Joe Kovacs won the Shot Put with a toss of 21.55M (70' 8.5")
Isaiah Harris placed second in the 800M with 1:46.42.
Rachel Fatherly placed 5th in the Shot Put with 17.47M (57' 3.75")
Morgan Shigo placed 8th in the Weight Throw with 22.30M (73' 2")
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.
First, Brannon Kidder didn't run in the USATF Championships. So he found himself running the Mile at the Boston University Last Chance Meet. There were fireworks aplenty in the race as Josh Kerr set the British Indoor Record and 2 Oregon chaps ran under 3:55. That places Evan Dorenkamp near the cut-off to make the Mile at the NCAA Championships! Fingers crossed.
Brannon ran 3:54.91. Is that the Alumni Record? The Interns are useless.
| 5 | KIDDER, Brannon | Brooks Beasts | 3:54.91 |
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And Isaiah Harris made his second World Team by placing 2nd to Bryce Hoppel in the 800M at the USATF Championships! Congrats Isaiah.
The Bible of the sport...
American Top Ten Performers:
World Top Ten Performers:
Athlete Of The Year:
With the news that Isaiah Harris has moved on from Nike to join the Brooks Beasts, a significant portion of 800U's record setters are reunited as well. Brannon Kidder has been with them since early on and former World-Best Indoor 600m champion Cas Loxsom had been with them earlier. Isaiah and Brannon were 4th and 5th at the last Olympic Trials.
Citius Mag Podcast with Isaiah
There weren't very many nominations from our members this year, but it did include some quality performances. The Interns decided not to poll members of the group for the winner this year and decided to take their meager paychecks and devote it all to an extravagant New Year's Eve Party last night. Now they want money from me to clean it up.
I had asked them to give me the listing yesterday, but they refused. I knew something was up, but was tired of dealing with the rowdy bunch and went to bed.
Alas, we finally got word from the email listserv which serves as the Premier Home of Penn State Track Alumni, that Ken Cooper had done the miraculous at the last minute. His 35th straight calendar year of running a sub-5:00 mile came on New Year's Eve. I will let Ken tell his story told via the email listing...
For those that like a story - The guy who paced me to my 5:00.53 on 12/20 told me on Wed that he would not be able to pace me again as he contracted COVID. Fortunately I had reached out to my high school coach (who is still the coach at Mounds View) earlier in the week and asked for a couple of more pacers. I thought being tucked behind multiple guys would be helpful. I got a guy who is a former walk on at Purdue and is still fit and a guy who runs for U of North Dakota. It was 9F so we warmed-up inside. I am usually a guy who sticks to my plan, but I made a last second change and put spikes on for the first time since September. If Lukas (Pacer #1) was going to wear them, then so shall I. Calves be damned.
It was pretty cool as my dad and high school coach timed and gave splits. There were 4 other MV coaches/alums there to see it and the many from the Bethel team (local D3 school coached by Andrew Rock) basically stopped practice to watch. Some of them were former Mounds View state champs and knew the coaches so they learned what I was doing.
We started with Lukas as rabbit then me then 2 recent alums behind me. We went out hot. The beauty of have so many people there that are coaches is that I got a 100m split for the fist time in my career. Went through in 16 secs. But it felt really comfortable. That said, we slowed down and came through in 35 secs for the first 200, which was still hot. I remember Coach saying 4:40 pace be smart. We slowed and came through the 400 in 74 secs. Really comfortable. Feeling good. The two guys behind me dropped off at 400 so it was me and Lukas. I just sat on him. We came through the 800 in 2:28, so another 74. It felt like we stepped it up on lap 5, which I as fine with as it helped me avoid getting soft. I cant remember what we came through in lap 5, but we came through 1200 in 3:41/3:42, at which time Lukas dropped off (which was not a surprise), but the other guy was not there, which was. Not a big deal as there were enough folks around the track to keep me engaged, particularly on the far corner where the Bethel team was. I came through lap 7 in 4:20/4:21 and knew I had it. I mustered as much of a kick as I could. A blistering 36/37 last 200.
The hammy held up well. I have been doing several eccentric strength building exercises since I tweaked it the 20th and that seemed to do the trick. Interestingly, I did one last PT session on Wed. The PT was convinced my hammy issue is caused from somewhere else. She is probably right. She actually honed in on my lymph nodes as preventing proper circulation as a result of COVID back in April. She did some massage of 6 area of lymph nodes. It did actually help the hammy feel better so will do those for awhile.
I appreciate you all taking such a vested interest in the streak. This past week, I was wondering how many sub 5’s I/we have done over our careers. I can recall some 5 x mile on the track and all were done well under 5 with 3 mins rest. Splits in races. There were times we did them in our sleep. Yesterday, I just wanted one more. You guys helped inspire me to do this over the past month when on paper, at age 50 with no intense training in the preceding 4-6 months, I really had no business getting there.
I have zero plans to wait this long again. I fully expect to check the box some time this indoor season.
Then I will look to drop a 55 at Penn with R.B., Kletter, Che and Jake. Anyone else want in?
Happy New Year Fellas.
So, the final standings of the 2021 Performance of the Year:
We all knew he was capable of doing it, but the chances were few and the time never just right. Until now.
The Sir Walter Miler was held yesterday in Raleigh, NC. And stepping up in distance was our very own 800U Champion, Isaiah Harris. He didn't disappoint. Congrats on joining the growing list of PSU Track Alumni (Golfers) under Bannister's mark! 3:58.30
Someone out their has a compiled list of all of them, right? The Interns are gutless and talentless.
*This is using the 2017 revision of the IAAF Scoring Tables.
1. Joe Kovacs Mens Shot Put 22.34M 1261 pts.
2. Darrell Hill Mens Shot Put 21.89M 1234 pts.
3. Terrance Laird Mens 200M 20.15 1196 pts.
4. Isaiah Harris Mens 800M 1:44.58 1187 pts.
5. Brannon Kidder Mens 800M 1:45.08 1171 pts.
6. Evonne Britton Womens 100H 12.95 1156 pts.
7. Kiah Seymour Womens 400H 55.84 1147 pts.
8. Morgan Shigo Mens Hammer 74.39M 1107 pts.
9. Michael Shuey Mens Javelin 79.24M 1091 pts.
10. Joe White Mens 800M 1:48.57 1067 pts.
11. Maddie Holmberg Womens Heptathlon 5895 pts. 1054 pts.
12. David Lucas Mens Discus 58.99M 1042 pts.
Olympic Team Qualified
Remember, this is only the finishes of athletes that have completed their competitions on Sunday and Monday. See here for earlier results.
Mens Hammer:
(12) Morgan Shigo 3 x Foul in Finals (74.39M, 244'0" in Prelims.)
Womens 100H:
17) Evonne Britton 12.95 in Semi-Finals
Womens 3000M Steeplechase:
31) Tori Gerlach 10:25.39
Mens Javelin:
2) Michael Shuey 79.24M 260'0" Olympian
Mens 800M:
4) Isaiah Harris 1:44.58
5) Brannon Kidder 1:45.08
Kevin Kelly O'Brien has a lot of time on his hands following his complete body transplant. (I suppose it only feels like that, Kelly?) So he did the work of all 5 Basement Interns and came up with the complete list of PSU qualifiers for the upcoming USATF Olympic Trials in the refurbished Hayward Field.
That is, of course, subject to change. Please chime in with any updates or changes!
First, Morgan Shigo (6) in the Hammer. Then, 2 in the 800M, Isaiah Harris (5) and Brannon Kidder (7). Third, 2 more in the Javelin, Mark Porter (7) and returning Champion Michael Shuey (1). Finally, two more in the Shot Put, Diamond League Champion Darrell Hill (4)and World Champion Joe Kovacs (2).
And last week, the USATF Road Mile Championships were held, with Colin Abert finishing in 6th place with 4:00.7.
The final 600 M were on the track!
And he backed it up today at the Drake Relays with a Mile PR in 4:00.65 after a warm-up 1500M yesterday 3:41.73 to pace the college division.
Additional Entries via Flotrack:
Rachel Fatherly has qualified in the Shot Put!
| SP | 9 | 18.44 | Rachel Fatherly | AUTO (17.70) |
Evonne Britton in the 100H!
| 100H | 18 | 12.81 | Evonne Britton | AUTO (12.84) |
(Transfer) Kiah Seymour in the 400H!
| 400H | 8 | 55.41 | Kiah Seymour | AUTO (56.50) |
(Transfer) Byron Robinson in the 400IH
| 400H | 10 | 49.09 | Byron Robinson | AUTO (49.50) |
Brannon Kidder in the 1500M!
| 1500 | 6 | 3:35.27 | Brannon Kidder | AUTO (3:37.50) |
Tori Gerlach in the 3000SC!
| 3K SC | 22 | 9:51.31 | Tori Gerlach | FILL THE FIELD (24) |
Lost amid the 800U shenanigans last weekend was Tim McGowan's 2021 Track debut in Austin, Texas. His 28:58 10K placed 5th in the meet and let him get together with blog favorites Isaiah Harris and Billy "Toad" Cvecko. Thought I would give him a shout-out for the fine opening effort!
And let's not forget about THE TOAD himself, with a 15:19 5K hop! Not bad for a 800M amphibian!!! I thought he was there just as a celebrity.
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.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1365704786625105926
Still, the Alumni provided even more 800U goodness.
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| Tim McGowan, Billy Cvecko and Isaiah Harris in Texas. |
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