Under the baobab: Penn State student-athletes, teams give much to celebrate in Happy Valley

Spring is on the way. For us “old heads” that means baseball is back. Last year my favorite team, the White Sox, set a record for the most losses. This year we are next to the bottom of the Grapefruit League with a 5-13 record. It’s early yet.

The Penn State men’s baseball team is off to its best 15-game start since 1979. There is more to celebrate: Congrats to PSU’s tennis senior Loren Byers, who was named the Big Ten Player of the Week.

The No. 25 Penn State women’s gymnastics team concluded its regular season with a trip to Clemson on Friday. Elizabeth Leary was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. Regionals kick off at Rec Hall beginning April 2.

PSU women’s hockey played St. Lawrence in their NCAA Regional semifinal after beating Mercyhurst in their third straight AHA Championship. Tessa Janacke was named a top ten finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award. She will also represent the USA in the IHF Women’s World Championships.

Penn State men’s basketball player Ace Baldwin was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for the second year.

No. 11 ranked PSU men’s hockey, with a 12-2-2 record, will play a semifinal match against No. 10 Ohio State on Saturday. The team had a finalist in each of the five Big Ten major award categories as freshman Charlie Cerrato, sophomore Aiden Fink, junior Arsenii Sergeev and senior Simon Mack were recognized, along with head coach Guy Gadowsky.

The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held this weekend at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. The PSU men’s track team qualified nine entries. Veterans Darius Smallwood, Yukichi Ishii and Olivier Desmeules will contend the 800-meters while superstar freshman Ajani Dwyer will go in both the 60 and 200-meters. Newcomer Jake Palermo will run in the 400-meter dash as the fastest freshman in the country in this event, and the only Nittany Lion ever to run sub-46 indoors.

For the Nittany Lion women, Hayley Kitching will lead the way in the 800-meter. All-American Florence Caron will join her for the women’s team and run the 5K. Multi-event athlete Maddie Pitts will make her first appearance at an NCAA Championship event as the ninth-ranked pentathlete in the nation this season.

The No. 1 ranked PSU wrestling team claimed its ninth Big Ten Championship. Five Nittany Lions all earned first team All-Big Ten honors: Luke Lilledahl, Tyler Kasak, Mitchell Mesenbrink, Levi Haines and Carter Starocci. Greg Kerkvliet earned second team All-Big Ten laurels. PSU’s five champions ties the school record. Starocci was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year, and for the ninth time Cael Sanderson was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. The team will begin a quest for another NCAA National Championship in Philadelphia starting March 20.

Athletic competition, particularly among young people, can build character and provide entertainment. Fair competition in business and commerce can increase and enhance production. War kills people and destroys things. War does not work for anything good. You cannot suppress people for an extended period of time in their homeland. The U.S. learned that in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Korea. The Soviets/Russia learned it in Afghanistan, Eastern Europe and they will in Ukraine. The Israelis will learn that you cannot bomb people into submission. Sooner or later people will be free if they struggle to be free.

It is a lesson we Americans helped teach the world 259 years ago. It is a lesson we all learned in the civil rights movement, in South Africa. We were schooled again by suffragists and the French resistance. Too often bullies come to power and think they can beat their fellow human beings into submission. It may work for a while, even a generation or two, but sooner or later the siren call to freedom will sing us all to be free.