Our Proxy Tour of Israel Continues

Phil Passen missed our Golf Tourney (Again!), but has a wonderful excuse of being overseas.  He has sent us some excellent Wrist Band photos from the real Bible Belt.

The lowest Point on Earth. Matching my golf prowess.

The Israeli Army has our back.

The "Other"Team at (+9): Not Losers Either!

My foursome was so bad that we couldn't even get losing right!  It turns out that our 5 straight bogies to end the round were just enough to tie Keeper of the Cup Harry Smith's team.  Despite their youth compared to the geriatric team I was on, they managed to make their +9 score spread out evenly over the whole round.

Tom Shiffer, Harry Smith, Brian Fuller and Tim Johnson

I think all 4 of them are much better golfers than I, and yet they somehow managed one of the worst scores in our tournament's history (+10 being the worst).  I can only chalk this up to story telling, inattention or possibly adult beverages?  We may be hearing more on this and other things from our beat writer Tim Johnson.

DFL*: But Not a Loser In The Bunch

The random draw this year was truly random.  Which is all well and good until YOU are assigned to the Methuselah Foursome!

At least I was the youngest member of the oldest foursome ever to chew up the links at our tournament.  Unfortunately,I was also the worst golfer amongst the group.  My 4 good shots all day weren't enough to drag our group from the bottom of the pile at (+9).*  We even managed 5 straight bogies to finish the round.  That's something quite difficult to accomplish with the Best Ball Format.

skwilli, Hugh Hamill, Coach Groves, Howie Triebold and Bill Whittaker.

My foursome combined me with some excellent people, all of whom support the blog with content and readership. Hugh Hamill, Howie Triebold and Coach Bill Whittaker all are better golfers than I, and deserve better than I gave them.  But, it was great to spend 5 hours with them on Saturday, thrashing at a damn little white ball, over and over and over...    You get the drift.

And they all finally supplied me with the missing link to the origins to the story of "Rusty Boots".  As soon as I can firm down names and obtain some photos, we'll have the scoop of the century.  Well, a scoop anyway.

* We were tied with another group, but claim the last spot anyway.

Big Ten Event Winners

Congratulations to the following Nittany Lion event winners at the Big Ten Championships.
Full results here

Steve Waithe -  Triple Jump

Darrell Hill - Shot Put

Michael Shuey - Javelin

Brittney Howell - Heptathlon

Melissa Kurzdorfer - Javelin

Kiah Seymour - 400 meter hurdles

Mahagony Jones - 200 meter dash

Dynasty McGee, Mahagony Jones, Tichina Rhodes, Kiah Seymour - 4x400 meter relay

For most the season and competition year are officially over. For those still with a shot at qualifying for NCAA's, that opportunity comes in two weeks at the NCAA East Regional meet on May 29-31.

Get Your Conversion Calculators Out Again!

Marta Klebe just broke the 31 year -old school record in the 1500M at the Big Ten Championships this weekend.

The previous holder of the record is our very own Doreen (Startare) McCoubrie, who happens to be in charge of the Mid-Atlantic USATF division.  (With her help, we will soon have our first Penn State Alumni team member, Alumni Singlet Father Dennis Pollow, toe the line in the 50K Trail Championships.)

Marta's time in the 1500M was 4:15.20.  Using the various calculators out there, that converts to a mile time of between 4:34 and 4:35.62.*

*The preferred conversion.

The Victors Enjoy the Spoils! The Winning Foursome

Owen Dawson, Doug Kent, Artie Gilkes and Curt Allison.

These guys managed to best the rest of the field with ease at 3-under par in the wet conditions.  I'm pretty sure that Clark Haley's friend Curt Allison was a ringer, but at least Clark isn't getting on The Cup (tm) again!

With the random format fully in place, Artie Gilkes and Owen Dawson, who tell me they aren't golfers, lucked on to The Cup on the backs of Curt Allison and my ex-roommate Doug Kent.  And I couldn't be happier.  Doug is one of the greatest guys I have ever met and one of the best golfers to have ever slashed the greenery of Happy Valley with us.  We're actually lucky to have him, as each year he has to leave early for another Real Golf Tourney the next day!  Artie keeps telling us he can't golf, but now his name will be displayed forever on the trophy alongside other non-golfers like me and Brian Boyer!

Owen not only got his share of the $200 pay-out for his victory (in the olden days this would have disqualified him forever as a professional!), but he then went and won the Golden Putter (tm) with the longest putt on the 18th green. Here he is with Horace, the Golden Putter (in honor of PSU's Greatest Steeplechaser!) and three previous winners of it.  All four are on record as returning to try to win it again next year! Make sure you join us.

Owen Dawson, Jeff Sanden, Bob Gabel and Che Arosemena, with the Golden Putter (24k)

There's a lot more to come on the Reunion weekend!

Ever Closer: I Finally Woke Up And I'm Still Not Ready to Post About the Reunion Weekend!

So I'm putting up this video of the PSU Baseball Team turning two triple-plays in one game for only the second time in NCAA history.  That's Taylor Skerpon at second base, son of pole vaulter (and Hurdler!) Don Skerpon.  Excuse Accepted!



And here's a video of PSU is 800U's Dave D'Zurilla in Minnesota and featured on ESPN!!!! That's him just to the right of the new Vikings QB featured in the expensive seats. And he STILL made it to our Reunion and Golf Tourney!

What A Weekend

Some other alumni who couldn't golf with us this weekend, all with equally good excuses. While we were at hacking around Mountain View Country Club, these folks were busy globetrotting.

On the other side of the world in China, at the Shanghai Diamond League meet, Joe Kovacs and Ryan Whiting were part of a United States 1-2-3 sweep. With Joe throwing a personal best of 70' 1/4" (21.52m). Joe and Ryan notched 2 and 1 Diamond Point(s) respectively. Some big money to be won if they finish yeah atop the Diamond Points standings.

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Result Wind		Diamond Points	Diamond Ranking			1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.
1	CANTWELL Christian	USA	21.73	MR	4	1			21.06	x	20.56	21.18	21.73	x
2	KOVACS Joe	USA	21.52	PB	2	2			20.64	20.50	x	20.94	21.52	20.85
3	WHITING Ryan	USA	21.31	SB	1	3			19.98	x	21.31	20.86	x	x
4	STORL David	GER	21.09						20.76	21.09	x	x	20.46	x
5	MAJEWSKI Tomasz	POL	20.93						20.25	20.59	20.59	20.66	20.93	x
6	ROBERTS Kurt	USA	20.60						19.34	20.37	20.60	x	20.59	20.33
7	MARTIN Cory	USA	20.11						19.87	20.11	19.89	x	20.02	x
8	IVANOV Georgi	BUL	20.06						19.15	20.02	20.05	x	x	20.06
9	RICHARDS O'Dayne	JAM	19.78						19.13	19.78	x
10	WANG Guangfu	CHN	19.18	SB					19.18	19.09	19.05
11	CHANG Ming-Huang	TPE	19.18						x	19.18	x
12	TIAN Zhizhong	CHN	18.33						18.33	17.92	18.20

In Puerto Rico, at the Ponce Grand Prix, Cas Loxsom took 5th in the 800 in a time of 1:46.79.

Event 112  Men 800 Meter Run IWC
=========================================================================
       World: @ 1:40.91  8/9/2010    David Lekuta Rudisha, Londres,GBR  
    Ponce GP: # 1:45.41  5/12/2012   Rafith Rodriguez, COL              
       NACAC: % 1:42.60  8/28/1985   Johnny Gray, USA                   
    National: * 1:44.64  4/19/2014   Wesley Vazquez, Barcelona, ESP     
    Name                     Age Team                         Finals
=========================================================================
Finals                                                                  
  1 Duane Solomon                United States            1:44.79#
                      
  2 Wesley Vazquez               Puerto Rico              1:45.40#
                           
  3 Harun Abda                   United States            1:45.55
                                   
  4 Charles Jock                 United States            1:45.90
                                  
  5 Casimir Loxsom               United States          1:46.79
                              
  6 David Torrence               United States            1:47.25
                              
  7 Mark Wieczorek               United States            1:47.27
                              
  8 Tayron Reyes                 Dominican Republic      1:47.55
                                  
  9 Jozef Repcik                 Slovakia                 1:48.15
                               
10 Richard Jones                United States            1:49.78
                                   
-- Matt Scherer                 United States                       DNF

The American Track League made its third stop of the season in Atlanta, GA where Fawn Dorr competed in the 400 meter hurdles. Running 1:00.39

There is also much to discuss from the Big Ten Championships, where the women won yet another team championship. Their ninth overall, second consecutive outdoor title, and second Big Ten win of the year. They took the team title at the indoor championships as well. More to come on Big Ten weekend later.

Also worth a mention. The State College High track team won it's first boy's PIAA District 6 AAA championship in 19 years. Worth mentioning because Artie Gilkes and Steve Shisler are on the coaching staff.

I'm Still Working On the Photos and Stories From the Reunion

I actually have the day off and will eventually get to the photos from this weekend.  That is, after I pay all my late bills, feed the animals, water the plants and take a nap!

So until then, let's put up a list of people that couldn't make it and had a good reason:

1. Steve Shisler and Beth Shisler were at the Big Ten Championships watching their son Alex Shisler score points for the Nittany Lions.  Excuse Accepted.
2. Brian Boyer had business requiring knowledge of Physics in New Mexico.  Excuse Accepted.
3. Steve Balkey had a son graduating from College.  Excuse Accepted.
4. Paul Mundy had a daughter being married. Excuse Accepted.
5. Bill Kvashay and Mark Haywood were coaching at Districts.  Excuses Accepted.
6. Gary Black had business requiring extensive travel. Excuse (reluctantly) Accepted.
7. Darryl Jones had Graduation duties at Gettysburg College. Excuse Accepted.
8. And last, but certainly not least, Phil Passen was in Israel and even supplied proof with a Wrist Band pic at the Dead Sea Scroll Museum! Excuse Accepted.

Rockin the Band!

Preliminary Reunion Post: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good:

• A great turn-out in an "Off Year" (when the team is away at Big Tens)
• Many new members and first-timers
• A completely random draw of foursomes and a competitive tourney
• Best ever organization by Founder Clark Haley and Keeper of the Cup Harry Smith
• Eager attendance of Coach Groves at every event
• Superb turn-out by recent grads
• New Board members appointed (more on this later)
• Overwhelming support for the continuation of our efforts and the "herding of cats" (my phrase),  aka stalking (as determined by other Board members)

The Bad:

• The tie for last place between my team and Harry Smith's team in the golf tourney

The Ugly:

•   Kelly O'Brien's pants (photos to be supplied later!)

Shanghai Shot Put Showdown

Joe Kovacs and Ryan Whiting will be competing at the Shanghai Diamond League meeting on Saturday. Since I am officially in charge of keeping track of the Alumni Records, there is a good chance that the Alumni Shot Put Record will be going down this year. Joe already set the indoor record this past winter at 70' 5" (21.46m) and certainly has what it takes to best the outdoor mark of 71' 9" (21.87m) by C.J. Hunter from 2000.

Also this weekend. The American Track League will be making it's third stop of the schedule with Fawn Dorr set to compete in the 400m hurdles.

However, this sadly means that these three will not be attending this weekends reunion. We will have to wait another year to see how far Ryan Whiting can drive a golf ball.

And of course, Big Ten competition begins tonight.

It's a Shame the Big Announcement Comes With a Fatwa

I had a nice meeting with Co-Blogger Matt Groves yesterday for dinner as thanks for helping me with the content of the blog.  During a steak meal (at a Seafood Joint no less!) I announced to Matt that I am making him a full-fledged Administrator of the blog!  I figure he has proven his assets and served enough of a internship to deserve "the big time". The Reunion Weekend is a great time for the announcement.  Be sure to thank him for his efforts when you see him.

His first duties will be to get the Alumni Records fully updated and posted on the sidebar.  This will guarantee scorn and conniptions across the fruited plain, but we'll do our best to bring a semblance of accuracy to the endeavor.

When Matt first came to me (yeah, that's right, he came to me!  No stalking necessary!) and asked to help with the blog content, I was thrilled.  Readership is up, as are submissions of news and items of interest.  Our mutual goals of a vibrant and far-reaching organization promoting the past, present and future of PSU Track are on track.

The only downside, we are aware, is the fatwa against us.  But we will pay that no mind.  Any help our members and readers provide us with that will be appreciated.

Welcome to the wonderful world of blogging, Matt!