Penn State track coach named vice chairman
Penn State Head Men's Track and Field Head Coach Harry Groves has been elected to his second four-year term as Vice Chairman of USA Track and Field. Groves, in his 37th season as the head coach of the Nittany Lions and 52nd overall, recently completed his first term in the office and will now be a guiding force for the U.S. national track and field program through the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
Groves, a five-time National Coach of the Year honoree, will be directly involved in the organization of the U.S. Olympic Trials and National Championships and the selection of U.S. teams that will compete internationally. Groves will also be the Director of the U.S. Junior Track and Field Program, and in that capacity will conduct the U.S. Junior Championships, select staff and coordinate U.S. Junior teams.
A United State Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame member, Groves has been a member of the USATF Executive Committee since 1985, is on the board of directors for the World's Greatest Athlete Decathlon Club and previously served as the Olympic Development Chairman for Distance Events from 1980-94. He has served as a coach for 12 U.S. National teams, including as head coach for the gold medal winning U.S. teams at the 1989 World Cup and the 1995 World Championships and as an assistant on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team in Barcelona, Spain.
Conference releases fall academic honors
Seventy-one Penn State student-athletes, representing seven fall sports, have earned Academic All-Big Ten honors, the second-highest total among all conference institutions, the Big Ten announced.
The conference recognized student-athletes from men's and women's cross country, field hockey, football, men's and women's soccer and women's volleyball for their academic achievements. To be eligible for academic all-conference accolades, student-athletes must be a letter winner in at least their second academic year at the institution and maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better.
Penn State has led all Big Ten schools in fall honorees five of the past seven years. This year, Indiana was first with 74 honorees, followed by Penn State (71) and Northwestern (60).
During the 2003-04 academic year, a school record 245 Penn State student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten accolades, the third-highest total in Conference history.
