District 6 Swimming Championships?

The PIAA District 6 AA Championships began on Tuesday before a monsoon hit, causing the Mansion Park track to flood and forcing the postponement till Wednesday. Luckily no one drowned or washed away. I believe the remainder of the meet went off without a hitch the following day

On a delay at the District 6 track meet for lightning and very heavy rain. pic.twitter.com/lv7q2TYMWA
— Christopher Weddle (@cweddleCDT) May 13, 2014

The District 6 Class AA track meet will resume at 4pm tomorrow. The track is partially underwater. pic.twitter.com/fyiODapeEv
— Christopher Weddle (@cweddleCDT) May 13, 2014

Yeah I know I know back in the day they would have raced anyway, all while munching on rusty nails dipped in motor oil. I guess kids were just tougher back then.

Get Ready

The Alumni Reunion weekend is set to begin tomorrow. Dave Baskwill gives a brief history of the early years of the golf outing and the start of the famous Alumni Blog.

Now if you can't fall asleep tonight because you are to excited to make the trip to Happy Valley for the Alumni Reunion and Harry Groves Golf Tournament (I know you will be) then tune into USATF.tv for a live stream of the USATF High Performance Distance Classic at Occidental College. 

In more exciting news, Steve Shisler has been inducted into the Pennridge-Quakertown Area Sports Hall of Fame. Quite an honor indeed.



Big Ten Time

The men and women are off to the Big Ten Outdoor Championships at Purdue University. Traveling in style by the looks of it.


Photo courtesy of Dan Jordan

The Nittany Lions are in good position heading into the championship season. The latest USTFCCCA rankings has the men ranked 17th while the women have moved up four spots to 15th.

Also going into championship time on a high note is Melissa Kurzdorfer. She has been named Big Ten Women's Field Athlete of the Week for her double victory in the hammer and discus at the Jim Thorpe Invitational.

Information for the Big Ten Championships:
Meet schedule here
Live results will be available here
Bring your smart out of the golf course this weekend and get updates from @PennStateTFXC

UPDATE: The travel has not been as luxurious as the photo would lead you to believe. Nick Scarpello reporting live from the team bus.

@Groves10287 *UPDATE ON THE #BTD2 - party bus restroom out of order, AC unit broken. Made pit stop @ Fullington Bus Barn this a.m. 4 new bus
— Nick Scarpello (@NickScarpello) May 14, 2014

A Review of Activities For the Reunion and Golf Tourney

No matter how many times we list things, the questions still come in.  So, in review:

• The Security Team for the entire weekend will be assembling early on Friday at the pre-arranged location.  All equipment and instructions will be distributed then.  Lunch, dinner and a small token of appreciation will be on me.
• The Reception and Reunion Evening at Damon's begins at 7:00PM on Friday night. There will be some snacks and a cash bar.  And plenty of great people, young and old to meet. You will be able to witness the magic that is "the selection of the foursomes".
• The Alumni "Run" is at 9:00AM at the Outdoor Track on Saturday.  Coffee and donuts etc. will be supplied by me.  This requires no physical activity of any kind unless you wish.  Anyone wishing to partake in the usual lap of the track followed by a 3-mile campus loop is "on their own" for insurance purposes.  There are no heroes if someone overdoes it!
• The Golf Tournament begins "at the crack of noon" at the Mountain View Country Club,  (formerly the Elks Club).  There will be a 50/50 putting contest at 11:00AM.  Come witness Mark "the orange hawk" Hawkins try to defend his title with another 45-footer.
• The Climb of Mt. Nittany, a tradition for those not golfing will begin at the Hampton Inn Lobby at around noon on Saturday. Even dogs are welcome!
• The Awards Dinner will begin at 7:00PM at Damon's following the golf.  Clark Haley and Harry Smith will dazzle the crowd with their usual Rowan and Martin antics.  The Golden Putter (tm) will be bestowed along with the other prizes.

I Just Want Them to Know PSU is 800 U!

Chloe and Claire Gruenke win honorary membership in 800U.

No Apologies

To start off reunion week. Yes the blog is linking to TMZ and like Charles I won't apologize for it.

"Charles Barkley says HELL WILL FREEZE OVER before he apologizes to the fat community for making fun of the large women of San Antonio ... claiming, "That's not gonna happen."

Barkley came under fire from MULTIPLE obesity organizations after he went on "Inside the NBA" and said S.A. is a "gold mine" for Weight Watchers because the women there are so huge.

But last night, Sir Charles addressed the situation head on -- saying, "They want me to apologize? That's not gonna happen."......."

Funny considering Barkley is rather plump himself, his nickname is the "Round Mound of Rebound" after all. But the man plays golf so he is obviously a goodfella. His swing certainly is unique.

 

Is it to late to invite him to golf with us this year?

 

Anybody else own this game?



Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Joe Kovacs added another win to his resume yesterday at the Occidental Invitational in Los Angeles, CA. His winning throw was 21.24m, or 69' 8 1/4" for those still on the English system.

Event 26  Men Shot Put
==========================================================================
    Name                    Year School                  Finals          
==========================================================================
Finals                                                                   
  1 Kovacs, Joe                  Nike                    21.24m   69-08.25
      20.73m  21.00m  20.95m  21.24m                                     
  2 Werskey, Eric                Chula Vista Otc         19.92m   65-04.25
      FOUL  19.92m  FOUL  19.24m                                         
  3 secci, daniele               Unattached              19.03m   62-05.25
      19.03m  18.90m  FOUL  FOUL                                         
  4 Miller, Mason                UC Irvine               16.84m   55-03.00
      16.61m  16.84m  16.80m  FOUL                                       
  5 Ramos, Moises                Concordia (Cal.)        16.45m   53-11.75
      14.75m  16.30m  16.45m  16.11m                                     
  6 Bassette, Michael            Cal Lutheran            15.13m   49-07.75
      15.13m  FOUL  FOUL  FOUL                                           
  7 McCurry, Caleb               Concordia (Cal.)        15.09m   49-06.25
      15.09m  FOUL  FOUL  15.03m                                         
  8 Kingsley, Ben                Westmont                14.65m   48-00.75
      14.65m  14.06m  FOUL  FOUL                                         
  9 Scott, JaQuan                Cal St. Fullerton       14.02m   46-00.00
      FOUL  FOUL  FOUL  14.02m                                           
10 Cervantes, Jorge             Redlands                14.01m   45-11.75
      FOUL  12.76m  13.34m  14.01m                                       
11 Ramage, Cody                 Unattached              13.92m   45-08.00
      FOUL  FOUL  13.92m  FOUL                                           
-- Parsons, Steven              Cal St. Fullerton         FOUL          
      FOUL  FOUL  FOUL  FOUL                                             
-- Kovar, Jayson                Southern Utah             FOUL          
      FOUL  FOUL  FOUL  FOUL                 

And congratulations to those graduating and making the plunge into the real world this weekend! Welcome to the Alumni World. Our ranks are expanding every year.  

From yesterdays Fifth Third Bank River Run (USATF 25K Championships). Highlights and interview   with Tyler McCandless.

All Kinds of Alumni Action From Coast to Coast

First up was Tyler McCandless again demonstrating that he is in good shape, even while furthering his Meteorology pursuits.  His 4th Place finish at the USATF 25K Championships (Third River Bank Run) will raise PSU's barometric pressure!  1:17:52.09 

Interview Here

Paul Souza broke out a new suit to take the stage at the 2nd meet in the American Track League meet in Charlottesville VA.  The weather kept the crowd down, but there were some fine performances again. (Podcast with Paul Here)

Now that's a suit.

Tim Johnson took part in an Ultra Relay from Hull, MA to Ragnar, Cape Cod, MA.  That's 192 miles with 550 teams.  And his team won the whole thing!  And he wore his Alumni Singlet! I'm pretty sure that won't help his golf game.

The Oregon Twilight Meet had at least 2 former Lions highlighted.  Cas Loxsom laced up the spikes in the 800M while Bridget Franek stepped down in distance to the 1500M.  (You can convert her 1500M time of 4:20.91 to the mile here.)

Women 1500M:

 1 Lauren Johnson    4:16.97  
  2 Annie Leblanc    4:18.05  
  3 Aisha Praught    4:18.23  
  4 Alexi Pappas     4:20.26  
  5 Bridget Franek   4:20.91 

Men 800M: 

 1 Harun Abda        1:47.33  
  2 Cas Loxsom       1:47.47  
  3 Tyler Mulder     1:48.76  
  4 Charles Jock     1:48.97  

Yeah, I'm Not Ready to Golf

That's my clubs peeking from behind the left-over Rec Hall lockers stored in my garage.  Apparently squirrels and some kind of bird have had more use of them than I since the last golf tourney. Just house sparrows I believe.  At least the bag didn't fall apart from rot like it did last year.  I've got that going for me.

Needless to say, I am not prepared for the upcoming tourney.  But a few others are.  Clark Haley and Harry Smith wanted me to let you know that the tourney will indeed start at "the crack of noon" next Saturday at the Mountain View Country Club (the former Elks Club course).

More Press For Brannon Kidder and Coach Gondak

Nice little video sent out by Coach Gondak featuring him and Brannon Kidder.  Feel free to disseminate widely.

Happy Birthday to....

We're six years old today.  Slow but steady progress toward our goals.

Remarkably realistic artist's conception of Blog Central

The blog started six years ago when I found out that the 2008 Coach Groves Golf Tourney did not fill out the third foursome (that's 11 golfers for those not mathematically inclined). It took a whole day to finally get a post up. The look and feel and set-up hasn't changed much at all.  We have become larger, with satisfied readers all over the globe.  Everyone is always welcome. We've averaged 8 foursomes since.

Weekend Action

Fresh off his heat 1 win at the Payton Jordan Invitational, Casimir Loxsom is back at it again in the Oregon Twilight Meet. He'll be running the 800 against old rivals Elijah Greer and Charles Jock. A Brooks Beast and Oregon Track Club Rivalry? Yeah why not?

Bridget Franek is competing as well. Moving down in distance to the 1500 meters (lots of ways to convert the 1500 to the mile).

Tyler McCandless, fresh off a 2nd place finish at the Newport 10K, will be racing in Grand Rapids, MI at the Fifth Third Bank River Run. An event claiming to be the largest 25K road race in history.

If you happen to be in State College tomorrow. The Jim Thorpe Invitational is tomorrow, serving as tune-up for the Big Ten Championships next weekend. Not surprisingly, Brannon Kidder was named Men's Big Ten Track Athlete of the Week and Kiah Seymour joined him as Women's Track Athlete of the Week.