Olympics

[RoverNation05]

Last night, former Bethlehem Catholic offensive tackle Joe Kovacs won his second Olympic silver medal, taking second in the shot put, behind fellow American Ryan Crouser. Kovacs throw bested the prior Olympic record and is the fourth farthest throw of all time, behind Crouser’s winning throw at the Olympics, his world record from Olympic Trials, and one other.

Kovacs was an All State offensive lineman for the Hawks in 2006, leading a Becahi squad that finished ranked in the top 5 in 3A that year and beat 4A finalist Liberty. Kovacs was the PIAA champ in both the discus and the shot put that spring, setting the 2A meet record in the shot. He also broke the D11 mark in the shot set by future Chicago Bear Mike Hartenstine, the longest standing track record in the district. As a junior, Kovacs was state runner up in the discus and seventh in the shot put.

After Becahi, Kovacs was a four-time All American thrower at Penn State, with two bronze medals in the shot put at NCAA Outdoor championships. As a pro, Kovacs has won world championships in the shot put in 2015 and 2019 and a world silver in 2017 to go with his Olympic silvers in 2016 and 2021.

 

[Relayer]

Nice post Rover. How about David Taylor? I take it he has cemented himself as the greatest wrestler from PSU. Granted, he is technically not from PA, but to beat the legend from Iran was outrageous!

 

[RoverNation05]

Nice post Rover. How about David Taylor? I take it he has cemented himself as the greatest wrestler from PSU. Granted, he is technically not from PA, but to beat the legend from Iran was outrageous!

He’s 3-0 against Yazdani now. And I thought Yazdani had his best game plan of the three this morning. Taylor really dug deep and found a way late, the snap, back step off double was beautiful. I banged by hand against the ceiling in my kitchen (it’s very low) when he scored. He’s always been such a nice guy, and I got to know his dad a little bit when I was living in Ohio and did a lot of Graham matches for Flo - also a real class act. Coming off of the ACL tear in 2019, I wasn’t sure how Taylor would stack up globally, but he obviously handled it just fine.

Taylor certainly has had the greatest total career so far of any Penn State wrestler. Zain, Nolf, and Ruth all have more NCAA titles, but don’t/won’t have the international credentials. And I may never get over Zain not qualifying 65 kg when he got pinned at Pan Ams in 2019, which ultimately helped cost Jordan Oliver an Olympic trip even after winning Trials (Easton was a point at the Last Chance wrestling qualifier and 0.34 seconds in the women’s 800 from having two Olympians…)

 

[shfoot]

Nice post Rover. How about David Taylor? I take it he has cemented himself as the greatest wrestler from PSU. Granted, he is technically not from PA, but to beat the legend from Iran was outrageous!

David just pulled that out under a minute. Great match

 

[RoverNation05]

David just pulled that out under a minute. Great match

His pace is incredible. Cael’s elite guys are all very different, but they all wrestle with the pedal on the floor to score points. Taylor’s motion and footwork got him both scores, and the constant in/out/head pull/level change wears guys out. Yazdani is so powerful, but in all three matches Taylor has emptied his gas tank. The first two, Yazdani came out firing and took big leads then died, this time, Yazdani started off more tactical and handfighting to try and save something for the end, and it almost worked.

It’s also wild to think of Taylor’s size progression through his career. He was a two-year 103 in high school, then was 112 as a junior. As a senior, he jumped all the way up to 135, and there were lots of questions about whether he’d still be good up so much weight (he was). Then he was 149 as a redshirt at Penn State before going 157/165 the rest of his career. He couldn’t beat Burroughs out of college at 163, so he made the decision to bulk up to 185 (now 190 with the new classes) where he just won an Olympic gold medal. I don’t remember any other elite guy getting SO much bigger during his career.

 

[shfoot]

I know they weren't football players, but
Micha Hancock and Haleigh Washington were a part of the roster for the United States women’s volleyball team. Washington was one of the starters for the team.

Penn St