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2016 Olympians Eli Dershwitz and Daryl Homer. Mackiewicz, who won NCAA ti- tles in 2015 and '16, will be making his first appearance in the Olympics. In men's swimming, Gabe Castaño will compete for Mexico in the 50-meter freestyle. Castaño set a Mexican national record on June 26 when he finished the 50 free in 22.06 seconds at the Swim Meet of Champions in Mission Viejo, Calif. He broke that record the next day with a time of 22.01, and on June 28 he was named to the Olympic team. Meanwhile, Kovacs will be Penn State's lone representative in track and field. There were two former Nittany Lions in the men's 800-meter final, but neither one finished in the top three. Isaiah Har- ris was fourth in 1 minute, 44.58 seconds, while Brannon Kidder was fifth in 1:45.08. A 2011 Penn State graduate, Kovacs had a throw of 73 feet, 3.5 inches at the trials, which earned him a spot on the team along with third-place finisher Payton Otter- dahl. Another Penn Stater, Darrell Hill, finished fourth and missed the cut. But the top qualifier was Crouser, who broke Randy Barnes's 31-year-old world record with a prodigious throw of 76-8.25. Kovacs is coached by his wife, Ashley Ko- vacs, in Columbus, Ohio, where she serves as the throws coach at Ohio State. He said his primary goal at the trials was simply to ensure himself a spot on the team. "To me, this is a qualifier, not a meet," he said. "I was happy I was able to punch my ticket." Kovacs turned 32 shortly after the trials wrapped up, but he's confident that he still has the potential for growth and im- provement heading into his second Olympics and beyond. "I never thought about shot putting after college," he said. "I know there's more in the tank. I haven't plateaued yet. I don't see why it has to stop now." ■ FIELD HOCKEY Penn State is set to wel- come two transfers to the team as the 2021 season approaches. Mackenzie Al- lessie, a two-time first-team All-Con- ference selection and the 2020-21 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, and former PIAA first-team All-State selection Gery Schnarrs will compete for the Nittany Lions this year. Allessie, a Mount Joy, Pa., native, comes to Penn State after two seasons at Ohio State, where she was a two- time first-team All-Big Ten selection. She was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year after the recently con- cluded 2021 spring season, in which she totaled 35 points on 15 goals and five as- sists. Allessie was also named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team after leading the Buckeyes to the title game. As a freshman, Allessie had 37 points on 16 goals and five assists. In addition to All-Big Ten honors, she was a first- team All-Region selection and was named a third-team NFHCA All-Ameri- can. A member of the U.S. National Team, she became the youngest player ever named to the squad in 2018. Schnarrs, a Camp Hill native, returns to her home state after seeing action in one game as a freshman at Virginia. A standout at East Pennsboro High School, she was a member of the 2019- 20 USA Women's National Indoor De- velopment Team and a first-team All-State selection in 2019. In other news, during an appearance June 3 at the virtual Penn State Coaches Caravan, longtime Nittany Lions coach Char Morett-Curtiss unveiled some renderings of a proposed field hockey stadium for which she is working to raise funds. She likened the project to Panzer Stadium, which has boosted the PSU men's and women's lacrosse programs. "My dream, probably like 10 years ago, was thinking about how can we get a vi- able stadium up there? Very, very fan friendly, something that's going to bring the fans right to the field," Morett-Cur- tiss said. "I've been working with the ar- chitects for quite a while, and I think we've come up with the final rendering. Now it's just a matter of getting the funding for it. It's similar to Panzer in a way, with the size of it. We have two beautiful balconies that extend out ei- ther side. They have great views of the field and Mount Nittany as well, and campus. We're trying to continue with fundraising. COVID of course set us back a little bit, but I feel we've got great support from our alumni and donors, and we're grateful for what we have. … Hopefully we can get to the finish line in the next year or so." WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Penn State will face five "double-play" opponents and eight "single-play" foes as part of the Big Ten's 18-game conference schedule for the 2021-22 season. The league office announced the opponent formats on June 17. The Lady Lions are scheduled to play home and away games against Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern and Rutgers this coming season. They will also play host to Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota to complete their nine- game Big Ten home schedule, while their single-play road opponents will be Indi- ana, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin. Dates, network assignments and times for the Big Ten contests will be an- nounced later this year. MEN'S VOLLEYBALL Four Penn State players – Will Bantle, Cole Bogner, Cal Fisher and Brett Wildman – were se- lected by the USA Volleyball National Team Development Program to attend a joint training session for boys' and men's age-group national teams. The session will take place from late July through early August, coinciding with the Sum- mer Olympic Games, at the National Teams Training Center in Anaheim, Calif. "I'm very proud of the opportunities that these four guys have availed them- selves to," Lions coach Mark Pavlik said. "This is a tribute to their hard work and their teammates surrounding them." ■ N O T E B O O K ALLESSIE

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