Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Allison Baver, Speedskating Extraordinaire

The 2010 Winter Olympics are in full swing now, with medals being handed out left and right. I personally have watched multiple snowboarding and skiing events plus some curling, hockey, and figure skating. One event that I caught on Saturday but has been absent since then is speedskating, an event that has many people in the Reading, PA area excited. Why? Wilson High School alum Allison Baver will participate in multiple events, including the 1000m (finals-Feb. 26th), 1500m (finals-Feb. 20th), and 3000m (finals-Feb. 24th). This is Allison's 3rd winter games. Her team finished 7th in the 3000m relay in Salt Lake City (2002) and 4th in the same relay in Torino (2006). She finished 7th in the 500m in Italy as well. The Olympics are what everyone focuses on but she has also done extremely well in the World Cup and World Championships, leading Team USA in total medals on multiple occasions.

She also happens to be not only a Wilson alum but also a Penn State graduate, too. Thanks to this she is featured at Black Shoe Diaries in a new series called "Nittany Lion Spotlight". The article is nice and gives a brief biography on Allison and her past and present. It also touches briefly on her looks.

Allison Baver, Speedskating Extraordinaire

Not too shabby, eh? (The games are in Vancouver. I had to.) Well upon finishing the article I hit up the comments to see what everyone was saying. Towards the end I noticed a comment from user LionsandBear...

Click to enlarge.

LionsandBear previously mentions that his wife attended Wilson with Allison. With regards to this comment... I like it. However, I was quick to add the he had forgotten 2000 Summer Olympics (Sydney) swimmer Kristy Kowal, who earned a silver in the 200m breaststroke event.

And for those wondering what "The JuggerNitt" was referring to, watch this.

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