This Is Refreshing To See

Like the days of yore, 1970s to 1980s, there were a whole lot of distance runners in a race this past weekend.  Times have changed, but back in the day, Coach Groves was willing to work with anyone with the desire.  He had very large numbers of distance runners at any one time.  Walk-ons vastly outnumbered the recruited ranks.  So,often in early season meets especially, there would be 10 or more PSU-clad runners in any race.  Often all the races had that many Lions participating.

With budget constraints, lawyerly constraints and Title IX constraints, many distance races nowadays have no Nittany Lions in them.

But not this past weekend!  There were 11 Lions in the 1500M at the Bucknell Meet.  With some rather good times, considering we have to call it an early season meet.  Six Lions finished with times the equivalent of 4:02 to 4:06!  Colin Abert led the pack with a second place finish in 3:44.72.


2 Abert, Colin Penn State 3:44.72I 4 
3 Maher, Drew Penn State 3:44.88I 4  
5 Abrahams, James Penn State 3:45.71I 4 
9 Wing, Owen Penn State 3:46.18I 4  
10 Hontz, Brandon Penn State 3:46.54I 4  
13 Claiborne, Isaiah Penn State 3:47.88I 3
34 McDevitt, Billy Penn State 3:52.49I 4
53 Claiborne, Elijah Penn State 3:56.65 2 
55 Barton, Ryan Penn State 3:57.07 3
-- Ashenfelter, William Penn State DNF 4  
-- Delisle, Hudson Penn State DNF 3 

And I made it to my Daughter the Younger's meet in upstate New York over the weekend.  She has dabbled in the Steeplechase so far and continues her PR in every race she has run this year!  Her hurdling was the very finest of all the competitors and the water jump hasn't flummoxed her yet. This was her worst effort of the 7!

Like The Days Of Yore!

I have always said there should be more scored meets in college track and field. Preferably they could be dual or tri-meets, but any kind of scored meet other than the National type of meet where just a fraction of the top 1% of athletes score would do.

Sadly, the paucity of scored meets is even beginning to infringe on the high school variety.

But the past weekend saw the Nittany Lion Men win a 4-team scored meet in Baton Rouge!  The Battle of the Bayou at LSU was my kind of meet.  The kind of meet where otherwise unheard of athletes made big contributions to the success of the team.

My nomination for Athlete of the Meet is Freshman Owen Wing, who won the 1500M and the 5000M, gathering 18 points for the Nittany Lions. The times may have not been stellar in this early season, but two wins in a meet is always a notable achievement. And a good motivator for the future!