Adopted Son Makes the Cover!

I had a brief talk with Ryan Whiting at the PSU Track Alumni Reunion and he has promised to answer our World Famous Ten Questions.  That is, when I finally write down the 10 questions!  His brief talk at the dinner was inspirational and we learned a few things.

• He regularly hits 350 yard drives.
• They are straight.
• He is mad at us for not letting him golf this year. (An error I will never make again!)  The truth is, communication errors led us to not realize he wanted to golf.

Here's a 2005 article on Central PA's very own World Leader.

Similar pose, different hair!

Top Ten Ranked Lions at the NCAA Championships

Brannon Kidder, photo by Tim O'Dowd.

The Final Seeds are out and there are quite a few Lions on the Top Ten list:

1. Mahogany Jones  100 M  6th.
2. Mahogany Jones  200 M  9th.
3. Lauren Kenney  Javelin  1st.
4. Laura Loht  Javelin  5th.
5. Casimir Loxsom  800 M  3rd.
6. Brannon Kidder  800 M  5th.
7. Robbie Creese  1500 M  4th.
8. Sam Masters  5000 M  10th

And here's a nice article about Coach Sullivan in the RunBlogRun site.

And a Top Ten List of things that make me crabby:

1. Kim Kardashian
2. Diet Crazes
3. Exercise Crazes
4. Kim Kardashian's baby
5. ObamaCare
6. Organic anything
7. Kim Kardashian's Family
8. 3D Movies
9. Democrats, Republicans and Independents...
10. And did I mention Kim Kardashian?

Love Them/Hate Them But Don't Doubt Their Influence

Nike has made an impact on our sport like no other single company.  I personally have run more than 99% of my miles in Nikes and prefer them far beyond any other shoes I have dabbled with.  And PSU has had a big influence on Nike, from its current leadership (Mark Parker) to JoePa's influence on Phil Knight.  There are plenty of detractors too, which is their right.

The AlSal I ran "with" in 1975.

But one thing I did not know, was that at the beginning of Alberto Salazar's Nike Project, a lunch with Tom Clarke PhD (PSU Biomechanics) and some scribbled notes on a napkin led to AlSal's Coaching tenure.

I always thank Tom for being one of two people who realized I had run my best time at PSU in the 10K despite being lapped by Greg Fredericks twice.  The other was Don Ziter.  Thanks again to both of you!

Hayward Field For Nationals

Wednesday June 5 to Saturday June 8 will be the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at storied Hayward Field.  Twenty Nittany Lions in 14 events will be there.

Penn State Track and Field Alumni Golfers Clark Haley and Harry Smith visit the scene to help with preparations.

"I have to work on my game."

In Boalsburg On Memorial Day

Boalsburg is one of many places claiming to be the first to celebrate Memorial Day.

"Local historians in Boalsburg, PA, claim that ladies there decorated soldiers' graves on July 4, 1864 As a result, Boalsburg promotes itself as the birthplace of Memorial Day."

Regardless of the Providence of the Holiday, Alumni Singlets* were sighted at this year's celebration, as Ryan Foster placed 2nd and Matt Groves placed 7th in the 4-Miler. There is also confirmation that Matt barely missed a hole-in-one this past weekend, garnering his first-ever birdie in Man's Most Difficult Game.  It took him all of 2 weeks to surpass my 38 years of golfing futility!  Congrats all around.

PSU Track Alumni Golfers Ryan and Matt return to their first sport.

* There will be a new drive for alumni singlet orders soon, right here on the blog with it all.  And maybe a surprise for those reluctant to get a singlet.  (And no it's not an Alumni Moo-Moo, although I'm getting close to needing that!)

Back to Work!

I've had this one for awhile now.  Dick Geiger, fellow native York Countian, brings us these photos of his "work place".  

Clinch River, Tennessee.

A Total of 20 to NCAA Finals

Due to a rather good last day of the Prelims, PSU has 20 athletes in 14 events heading to Eugene, Oregon this week for the Finals of the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

1. Sam Masters, soon to be a contributor to the blog, ran a 57 second closing 400 M to place third in the 5000 M and move on to the Finals.
2. Lauren Kenney and Laura Loht placed first and third in the Javelin, keeping very much alive PSU's incredible streak in the event.
3. Sean Reilly placed 12th in the High Jump (defeating Jon Hendershot, among others) in the count-back on fewer misses.
4. Natalie Bower keeps the tradition alive in the Steeplechase.
5. Both Men's and Women's teams 4 x 400 M Relay squads move on.  The Women's team placed third in their heat and the Men were first.

A Juxtaposition of Several Memes

Any semi-intelligent reader of this blog (there are a few!) may have detected a few memes over the past several years.  Among them are:

• Steve Prefontaine
• Greg Fredericks
• Running Streaks
• Colleges that have lost their track teams
• Coach Groves' former team,  William and Mary

Well, all of these come together in this blog post from Steve Taylor, a former runner for the Richmond Spiders. Remember, Richmond lost its Men's team a few years ago, a trend that really infuriates me.  In digging through the archives of other alums, Steve came across these 2 photos.

They happen to show Steve Prefontaine winning the 1970 NCAA XC Championship on William and Mary's home course, probably a course set up by Coach Harry Groves.*  I ran that course in 1977 the day after 1/2 of Lynyrd Skynyrd died in a plane crash.  

In the results of the race, I noticed two names that made me smile. In 4th place was our very own Greg Fredericks two places behind Donal Walsh from Villanova.  (That was the opposite of this race in 1968):

Photo courtesy of runmoremiles.com

And in 16th place that year was Cal State Fullerton's Mark Covert who had been running every day for two years then.  Well, he still hasn't missed a day since then and will officially end his streak in July of this year at 45 years, without missing a day.  His right foot has finally collapsed and he will switch to biking at that time.

 1. Steve Prefontaine, Oregon 28:00
 2. Donal Walsh, Villanova 28:08
 4. Greg Fredericks, Penn State 28:12
16. Mark Covert, Cal State Fullerton 28:48

Addendum  (with emphasis on "dumb" on my part, again.): 

Steve Taylor is coach at Richmond - he was an All-American XC and track guy at VA Tech '83-'88. The W&M course you ran on (and I raced on) appears not to be the 1970 NCAA course, according to wife of 25th place finisher, Ron Martin: (Margaret Ann Martin) "That race was run at what is now Kingsmill. I think it was the last race run there before construction of the community was started. Ron (25th place) was just a freshman. When he told his mom in England he had made All American, she thought he had changed his citizenship!! Ron ran against Pre in another race: the 3 mile at NCAA Champs in Baton Rouge. 1973, i think. There was a picture of several of the finishers in TFN, including Ron and Pre, cooling off in the steeplechase water jump."

*I'm not positive on what course was used, but Coach Groves had to have had something to do with it!

Ricky West Makes My Day!

Photo by Tim O'Dowd.

Yea, that's a Penn State Track Alumni Bracelet on his wrist while qualifying for the NCAA 800 M Semi-finals in Eugene next week.

I told him I would celebrate anyone who wears a "PSU is 800 U" version in competition and I meant every word.  It was a pleasure to meet him and other team members at the Alumni /Team Reception last week.  It is really heartening to know that there is a lot of Nittany Lion Pride in every one of them.

I'll mail you one of the wrist bands (with a copy of the old ones if you need them!) if you donate to the group on the right sidebar.  All of that money (minus the 3% PayPal fee)* will go to the Coach Harry Groves Scholarship and I'll foot the bill for shipping to you!  That's a deal everyone can get behind.

* this small print isn't really that bad now, is it?

Eugene Bound! And More 800 M Silliness

So far, eight Nittany Lions are into next week's NCAA Championships.  There is even one day left to go in the Prelims, including the Mens 1500 M and the Women's Javelin. As I had hoped, three of the qualifiers will travel to Oregon for the 800 M!

1. Melissa Kurzdorfer in the Discus.
2. Melissa Kurzdorfer in the Hammer!
3. Michael Shuey in the Javelin.
4. Mahogany Jones in the 100 M.
5. Mahogany Jones in the 200 M!
6. Kiah Seymour in the 400 M Hurdles.
7. Natalie Bower in the 3000 M SC.
8. Casimir Loxsom in the 800 M.
9. Brannon Kidder in the 800 M.
10. Ricky West in the 800 M.

And speaking of 800 M, here's former 2-lapper Steve Black's latest episode in his Web Series, The Grave Diggers! 

"Build It and They Will Come"

I've been following up with several people on last week's Reunion and Golf Tourney festivities.  A lot of the discussion was about our burgeoning numbers. Founder and Keeper of the Beer Clark Haley put it well when he paraphrased Field of Dreams with the title quote of this post.

Clark is responsible for building this event from the ground up, and keeping it alive through the turbulent beginning years.  Many others have chipped in since and we're now reaching a healthy number with which to keep it alive in the coming (more turbulent?) years.

Remember, the original idea in Field of Dreams was that "Build it and he will come" meant Shoeless Joe Jackson would come.  It turns out that Ray was wrong about that.  "He" turns out to be his father, with whom he had just a fleeting relationship.  Shoeless Joe just happens to be a conduit to a bigger Dream.

Our Reunion is very similar to the movie Field of Dreams and its progenitor short book Shoeless Joe. Once it was built, people began to come, expecting to reunite with friends and already known teammates.  The funny thing is, we got to meet unexpected new friends, people with intelligence, passions and talents we never dreamed of.  Come to see a few good friends and end up meeting 3 members from the 1950's Championship XC teams, a retired trackster from the 60's and a current team member who can't wait to join the festivities in the future. The dreams continue...

Horace the Golden Putter is in Good Hands

Our Director of Youth Development Artie Gilkes struck gold this year by enticing a teammate to our Reunion and Golf Tournament.  But the gold Che Arosemena won is real.  He won the prize with his Longest Putt of the day on the 18th green. He will travel with Horace to golf courses all over and promises to send us pics from famous places.

Che Arosemena accepts Horace the Golden Putter from 3 Idiot Officers.