Diamonds Are A Guys Best Friend

 Via our West Coast Promoter Mike Fanelli, via Founder and Keeper of the Beer Clark Haley comes this picture from the 1980 Run for the Diamonds in Berwick, PA.  I think both Greg Fredericks and Larry Mangan won diamonds that year.   Not bad for a couple of milers...

PSU Is 800U: Early Spring 1983 Edition

From State College Emmaus* native Paul McGlauglin comes this great photo of an 800M workout early in the Spring of 1983.  It shows most of the group that went on to win the Championship of America 4x800M at the Penn Relays later in April, Coach Groves' first ever.

That's Paul McGlauglin leading the troops, with Mike Cook, Ken Wynn and Tom Walchuck right behind.

How many of us remember those early season workouts buffeted by the winds that the 2-foot high pine trees couldn't quite block on the backstretch?

Addendum:  The 2017 edition of early season 800U News: Dom Perretta won his first outdoor 800M in Arizona at the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge!   Way to go Dom! 

*Errors in fact are a feature, not a bug of our site.  So,  shut up!  hee hee hee  (Thanks to Paul for the correction.)

Reggie Dunlop Might Have Been Our Coach This Day

 Early in the 1979 Cross Country Season an intrepid cast of characters set out in a van for the home of the Charlestown Chiefs.  Instead of meeting the Hanson Brothers on the ice, we met a bunch of other runners for the Johnstown 10K.

But we did use the Cambria County War Arena as our dressing room.  That's the scene of much of the filming for what Paul Newman called his favorite movie, Slap Shot.  We actually dressed in the stands right where goalie Denis Lemieux met player/coach Reggie Dunlop after asking Manager Joe McGrath "Who Own the Chiefs?"    Owwwwwns...




Several of us set PRs for the 10K, and everyone knows Johnstown has hills!

Penn State Runners:

  5.  Gary Black                 29:58
  7.  David Baskwill           30:37
  8.  Brad Althouse            30:40
11.  Mark Hawkins            31:01
12.  Marc Dunmire            31:14
14.  Don Ziter                     31:33
15.  Doug Kent                   31:54
18.  Rich Prann                  32:17
19.  Ray Krombel               32:20
23.  Mark Fordney             32:50
26.  Mike Cook                   33:07
42.  Roger "Gunny" Roll   34:53

I further pissed everyone off after the race by winning a pair of running shoes randomly from a local running store, delaying the return to State College!  They ended up giving me an injury...

"We go to Florida and I get the money." 

-Denis Lemieaux.

    

Where 800U All Began

Coach Groves' very first Championship of America at Penn Relays was the 1983 4 x 800M race.  I have talked about it before, but now I have some extra great photos to go with it.

I was actually in the front row directly opposite the start/finish line, which was a tremendous vantage point to see it all!  And apparently Tom Shiffer was very near me.  Because he took a bunch of photos of all of the runners, and dug them out after the Reunion and sent them my way.  Thus, all of us can enjoy them for posterity.

That's Paul McLaughlin, Randy Moore, Mike Cook and Kenny Wynn in all their glory.  John Marshall and  Marcus O'Sullivan also appear in the pics.  Our Blog Laureate and others will pipe in with more on our Facebook site...

All photos courtesy of Tom Shiffer. Keep them coming Tom!

This is also the race where my future wife was standing next to Coach Groves in the stands, as he was not in his usual place beneath the clock.  He related he was too nervous and headed into the stands.  When they finished and began their victory lap, Barb saw Coach actually crying real tears.  He asked her to never tell anyone, which lasted as long as it took to for her to find me at the front row.  When Coach tells people that Championships of America victories mean more to him than Olympic ones, he really does mean it.  That statement alone made George Steinbrenner once write a check to the Penn Relays for $1 Million!  True story (for once on our blog!)

Nittany Lions From the PIAA List of Past Cross Country Champions

I have tried to put together a list of current and former Nittany Lions who have joined the Cross Country team after winning a PIAA State Championship.  I probably don't have a complete list.  If anyone knows of those I missed, please chime in! (The list has been amended to include those I missed and submitted via the comments. Thanks to the anonymous supporter and RMH!)

1963 Boys’ AAA  Steve Gentry 11  State College. 10:36  (Pennsylvania State University)

1964 Boys’ AAA Steve Gentry  12 State College 10:25.2 (Pennsylvania State University)

1968 Boys’ AAA Jim Allahand 12 Bensalem  12:40 (Pennsylvania State University)

1975 Girls’ AA Mary Rawe  11 Camp Hill    12:28 (Pennsylvania State University)

            1976 Girls’ AAA Kathy Byrnes 12 North Allegheny 13:06.6.(Pennsylvania State University)

1977 Boys’ AAA  Gary Black  12  State College 15:09.4 (Pennsylvania State University)

1978  Boys’ AA  Mike Cook  12 Troy  15:26.8 (Pennsylvania State University)

1980  Boys’ AA Mark Overheim 12  General McLane 10  15:50.7 (Lehigh University)

1982 Boys’ AAA  Eric Carter 11 Penn Hills   15:38.2  (Lehigh University)

1984 Boys’ AAA Steve Brown 12  North Hills   15:44.9 (Lehigh University)

1985 Boys’ AAA  Doug Walter  12  Chambersburg   15:38.14 (Lehigh University)

1986 Boys’ AAA Ron Moore 12 Hempfield Area  15:33.2 (Pennsylvania State University)

1989 Boys’ AAA  Bob Hamer  12  Council Rock 15:37.98 (Lehigh University)

1995 Boys’ AAA  Chris McGinness 12  Abington 15:48.15 (Pennsylvania State University)

2001 Boys’ AAA Daniel Mazzocco 12 Baldwin 16:03.0 (Hersheypark Stadium White Field)

2011 Boys’ AAA Conner Quinn 11  Hatboro-Horsham 16:03 (Parkview XC Course, Hershey)

            2012 Boys’ AAA Tony Russell 11  W. C. Henderson  15:45 (Parkview XC Course, Hershey)

2013 .Girls’ AAA Tessa Barrett 12  Abington Heights 17:30 (Parkview XC Course, Hershey)

2013 Girls’ AA Elizabeth Chikotas 12 Saucon Valley  18:43 (Parkview XC Course, Hershey)

            2013  Boys’ AAA  Tony Russell 12  W. C. Henderson 15:49 (Parkview XC Course, Hershey)

PSU is 8000 U ???

Here's a great Alumni Singlet sighting from the Shamrock 8K (not bad for a half-miler!) with Mike Cook!

The Good, The Bad And The Bearded Ugly: PSU is 800 U

First, The Good.  1983 4 x 800 Champions of America with Paul McLaughlin, Randy Moore, Mike Cook and Ken Wynn. I was there in the stands...

The Bad.  Here's Mike Cook leading off in the 4 x Mile at another Championship of America Race at Penn Relays.  This one didn't turn out as well for Mike, who has acknowledged he "rigged" soon after the photo was taken.  I think both he and the large bear on his back rigged!  The nasty graffiti that appears on the Collegian photo was posted in the Locker Room at the next week's Monday practice.  Mike relates he kept it and found it among his relics recently.  Both Mike and I think we know who wrote it, but that's for another day.  Mike will be making his way to State College again this year to beat me at both golf and the Alumni "Run".  I hope he brings his Penn Relays Watch with him!

The Ugly.  Check out Mike beating both Ken Wynn and Steve Shisler in this photo from the Penn State Open 800 M in 1982.  Talk about ugly beards!

PSU is 800U: The Comeback*

*  I changed the title.  I don't want to offend anyone, and this gets the point across better anyway.  Thanks for the feedback, whoever you are...

When I assumed the role of Herder of Cats for our 11-man Penn State Track and Field Alumni Golfers group in 2008, I had no idea what I was in for.  More than 800 posts later, I'm still surprised at what our little band of brothers have achieved with our experiment in motivation .  Nothing pleases me more than bringing a Lion back into the fold.

It was a delight to see Penn Relays Watch Winner and former Pennsylvania State High School Mile Champion Mike Cook at last year's reunion.  It was his first visit to State College since graduation! He's planning on coming again this year, and will even hack and thrash at the greenery on one of Happy Valley's glorious golf courses with us this year! (I don't think we have decided which one yet.)
 
But when Mike told me that he even recently ran a 10K, I had to refresh my computer monitor (the one at work, since I still don't have a replacement for the exploded one at home) and check again.  I don't think Mike ever ran a 10K when we were really running 10Ks back in the day.  He had decided after high school that the mile was a bit too far and switched to the 800M instead.  But now, with a slight nudge from our humble little cadre of has-beens and never-was's, Mike is truly a distance runner!