800 High

800 High lived up to the name at the PIAA State Championships. Coached by former Penn State standout Steve Shisler, and led by future Nittany Lions Will Cather and Kyle Adams, the Little Lions won the AAA 4x800 in a new school record of 7:41.99. They broke the old school set all the way back in 1969.

The 4x8 was just the start to their weekend, as both Kyle and Will ran on the schools 6th place 4x400 while Will placed 6th in the open 800 with a 1:54.56. Indoor and outdoor 4x8 State Champs, the pipeline from 800 High to 800 U continues!

One proud coach

 

Steve isn't the only Penn State Track Alum developing young athletes at State High. Despite his background in the long stuff, Artie Gilkes has made a nice transition to jumps coach. Under Artie's tutelage, Bryce Williams jumped himself to a 9th place (22' 5") and 3rd place (47' 7 1/4") finish in the long jump and triple jump respectively. Bryce will also be attending Penn State next year. I always love seeing local athletes going from State High to Penn State.

*If we are missing any Alums who had athletes at the State Meet please let us know in the comments section.

UPDATE: Steve Shisler with corrections.

Kyle Adams is headed to run for Bucknell next fall.

It's Mason Post headed to 800 U with Will Cather. All 3 of these guys ran on the 4x400 and Mason anchored with a 48.8 split.

Jump Guru Artie Gilkes also coaches the girl's jumper's at State. Veronika Karpenko, a soph, took 3rd in the Triple in a new school record 39 feet and 12th in the Long Jump on Friday

A Little Piece of PSU Can Go a Long Way

Today's Bolder Boulder run has Tyler McCandless suiting up for the US Blue Team.  But with him will be his PSU Head-Band.  Just watch, he'll improve on last year's performance with that addition.

Go Ty!

And soon-to-be Group Physicist Ron Moore took the Group Wrist band last seen in the Tevatron Tunnel and ran his first 50-Miler (7:46) with it.  He relates his wrist did not chafe, but I'll bet other parts probably did!  (Photos may become available later!)

Mark Hawkins, fresh off his excellent Golf Tourney performance sans sleep, was a photographer at the Indianapolis 500.  Some excellent pics were taken, but none better than this one!

Photo by Mark Hawkins.

And I took my first run with my new PSU Track Alumni Performance tee-shirt.  The results are in and you can expect 10% better speed with 25% less fatigue while wearing it.* Another opportunity to get yours will be coming shortly!

*I totally made those numbers up. But it did feel good to wear it. 

Catching Up On Some Off-Topic Blog Memes

With all the end of season track results and the Golf Tourney results submissions of "other" things have been piling up.  So let's get them all out of the way in one big block:

1. Mice in captivity don't just jog on their wheeled "treadmills" out of psychological need or pathology.  There is an innate need or desire for just about all creatures to jog even without any tangible benefit or treat.  Except for couch potatoes. Here and Here
2. People who swim in the ocean admit to peeing in vivo at a rate higher than at the local pool.  But then again, 100% of the aquatic mammals, fish and assorted other animals do also.  Charmin wants you to stop!
3. My love of Canada continues.  And especially that emblem which is getting more and more entrenched as truly Canadian, Tim Horton's! And where else would you take a baby moose you just saved from death?
4. We have frequently talked about the old male "facilities" at Franklin Field.  They are gone now, but I wonder if anyone involved in their removal thought about cashing in on it like the Metrodome demolishers did?  No word on the purchasers.

Any bidders?

Track Alumni (Golfer) Coaches a Winner: Maybe More to Come?

One of the upper-classmen I looked up to at PSU was Bill Kvashay.  Bill was an 800M runner (among other events) at State College High back in the days when color photos were sorta kinda new.   hee hee He went on to the Armed Services (I think Marines?) before enrolling at PSU.  I believe Coach Groves himself was instrumental in having Bill try out for the team.  (all of these facts are up for review and correction.) Following graduation, he won the Penn Relays Marathon in a Olympic Trials qualifying time, except a policeman sent him the wrong dirction through campus 300 meters from the finish.  He has been a fine coach since and a teacher of calculus.  Someone we all can really look up to.  An example of the upper echelons of what our group is all about.

Bill now coaches at Lake Lehman High School and must be one heck of a coach.  I've kept up with him sporadically via the interwebby thingie and occasionally seeing him at Track and XC meets over the years.

One of Bill's athletes, Dominic Hockenbury just won the Class AA 3200M in 9:17.18, a 24 second PR at the PIAA meet.  Dominic is a Sophomore.  Congrats to Bill and Dominic.  I add that he would make a very fine Nittany Lion.

Dominic Hockenbury with Coach Bill Kvashay, right.

Third Place Foursome Had More Fun Than Anyone

Larry Mangan, Clark Haley, Coach Groves, Nick K. and Mark Hawkins.

Two things are remarkable about our third place foursome this year.

1. Clark Haley was NOT on the winning team!
2. They managed third place (+1) despite apparently never sleeping the whole weekend!

Larry Mangan, Nick K., Clark Haley and Mark Hawkins slightly before 3:00AM (photo by Tim Backenstose)

Chief Laundry and Morale Officer Larry Mangan relates that he had a great time and was constantly laughing through the entire round of golf.  Which, for those who don't golf, is difficult to do when trying to hit that damn little white ball, over and over...

Founder Clark Haley had the organization honed to a sharp edge like never before.  The only potential hiccup was the chance of rain that somehow never materialized for the 13th year in a row!

Nick K. was again looking good on the golf course as well as the track during the Alumni "Run".

" Le faucon d'orange" Mark Hawkins also participated in all activities and unveiled the newest batch of Alumni Singlets and the new Alumni tees at the Reunion on Friday night.  He deserves much more in pay than he gets for doing this! We plan on a new batch in just a few weeks for those paying attention.

Coach Groves shows off his new Alumni tee.

Kyle Dawson displays the very first blue Mens Singlet.

IAAF World Relays

Fawn Dorr and Shana Cox will be competing this weekend at the 1st IAAF World Relay Championships in Nassau, Bahamas. Fawn (Canada) and Shana (Great Britain) are both on there respective nations 4x400 meter relays.

The event will be broadcast live on TV and online by Universal Sports from 6:30-9:00 PM Saturday and Sunday.

Note: Your cable provider must subscribe to Universal Sports to view it online. Mine doesn't (Thanks Comcast)

Full Entries Here

The "Extra" Prizes From the 2014 Coach Groves Tourney

It has been Clark Haley's wish since the very first tourney to honor as many people as possible.  So with that in mind, we have several "extra" prizes awarded every year.

• The Longest Trip:  Dave D'Zurilla made it to Happy Valley all the way from St. Paul, Minnesota.  He's been back to State College several times but had not seen many of us (and vice versa!) for 30 years or so.  Thanks go to Chief Laundry and Morale Officer Larry Mangan for reconnecting us.
• Shot of the Day: Owen Dawson managed to recreate Munya Maraire's feat of hitting his tee shot backward.  Well done Owen, well done.
• Ghostman Award: This prize goes out to the "one" who returns after a lengthy absence to reconnect with the rest of us reprobates.  This year, the prize was divided up between Dave. D'Zurilla, Howie Triebold and Hugh Hamill.  It was especially good to entice Howie and Hugh AND to be able to golf with both this year.  They have been loyal readers and contributors to the blog.  It's as if we have been friends our entire lives. Which is kinda sorta what this group is all about! They have info on the origins of "Rusty Boots" I have been searching for a very long time.
• Numbnut Award:  This goes for a bonehead move that others happen to see and point out.  We've all done them, but sometimes no one see them and reports them.  This year the prize goes to Matt Groves for golfing despite having a sacral stress fracture.  Which leads to...
• The "Rob Whiteside" Brotherhood Award:  This goes to someone who golfs with us for the camaraderie despite having no talent for it or great excuses to avoid it.  Matt Groves takes the title this year for soldiering on despite pain and potential harm.  Well done Matt.  What do doctors know anyway...?

Another Recent Grad

From Dan Jordan: ""Don't cry because it's over, Smile because it happened" #PSUT&F #tbt #psuthrows"

You're Very Bold

Tyler McCandless has been selected to represent Team USA Blue at the 2014 edition of the Bolder Boulder 10K in Boulder, CO. The race, held on Memorial Day, has multiple national teams competing for a team championship. Tyler will be joined by Stephen Pifer and Brent Vaughn on USA Blue; one of three teams competing for America, Teams Red, White, and Blue (full start list for the International Team Challenge here).

Last year Tyler ran for Team Colorado and came in 17th place. Nearly collapsing in the process.



Now is Instagram allowed? Because I know Twitter and selfies are not how its done.

Second Place in the Tourney Is Oh So Close to Immortality!

Their names won't be immortalized on The Cup, so all they get is this stinking blog mention.  And the duffle bag.  Don't forget the duffle bag!

Mark Fuller, Che Arosemena, Shawn Breon and Kevin Fuller.

I maybe got the Fullers wrong there, it wouldn't be the first time.  There are just so many Fullers!  And they were very close to putting their name on The Cup again.  Che Arosemena managed to win 2 other prizes during the tourney.  We already talked about his relinquishing of The Golden Putter (tm) to Owen Dawson.  But Che also managed to win the 50/50 putting contest held prior to the shotgun start. ( I wasn't there again this year, as I was coordinating the Security for the round and setting up Coach's Beer Cart.)  No word on the prize money won.  Che also won the award for the Longest Drive (Beth Shisler, 3-time winner of the prize, was away for the Big Ten Debut of her son Alex!)  That came with a prize of $25, making Che the biggest money winner of the year.

Another Author!

I am pleased to announce that Nick Scarpello, recent graduate and enthusiastic Track Alumni (Golfer), has joined our small cadre of authors for the blog.  This will not affect my voluminous and mostly accurate posts to the blog!

Welcome Nick!

Fire the Laser!

From the Portland Business Journal

"As awareness has grown of prescription painkiller abuse across the U.S., so has interest in alternatives.

The sports world is no exception. A prime example can be found in Oregon. Alberto Salazar, head coach of the Nike Oregon Project and a former world-class long distance runner, is all about drug-free pain relief for the athletes he coaches. Salazar uses FDA-approved Multi Radiance Medical lasers to help runners prepare to run and recover from lower-extremity injuries that are slow to heal."

Now Alberto Salazar's critics will have you believe he is Dr. Evil. With the Nike Oregon Project hell bent on world domination.

Just hope the laser blast don't contain gamma radiation. Or maybe that is his secret plan? I imagine the Hulk could throw down a sick 5K, if he can control his rage of course.

On an unrelated note, The Big Ten Conference has given Darrell Hill Field Athlete of the Championship and Field Athlete of Year for his exploits in the shot put. Coach Sullivan has been named Big Ten Women's Coach of the Year for the second year in a row, making three consecutive coach of the year honors for a track season. In March she was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the indoor season.