Swimmen take two over busy weekend

Chip Berry set a Penn State record this weekend at Iowa's Fieldhouse pool in Iowa City. With a time of 9:16.92 in the 1,000-yard freestyle, Berry bested his own record of 9:19.05 set three weeks ago versus Virginia.

But Berry was one of the few individuals to stand out from the rest. While it took a team effort to beat Southern Illinois 68-45 Friday and Northwestern 74-59 Saturday, the Lions didn't put up much of a fight against Big Ten powerhouse Iowa, which prevailed 89-44.

"We were in the toughest position of all because we swam a lot more than the other teams," Swimming Coach Peter Brown said. "The experience I thought was very beneficial, but it kind of hit you hard because when Friday night's meet was over, we were back at it the next morning."

Brown would have used a different lineup if his only weekend opponent was Iowa. But facing three different teams in two days forced him to modify his game plan.

"My main concern was matching up properly with Northwestern because I didn't think we could beat Iowa," he said. "The meet format was definitely to (Iowa's) advantage. Our lineup played right into their hands."

Diver Chris Devine was not at his best either. After surpassing the Big Ten's No. 1 diver Yoshi Sakata of Ohio State in January, he came in second every time to Iowa's B.J. Blair. Diving Coach Craig Brown said his divers weren't as crisp because they were away from home.

"B.J. has six or seven more years of experience than Chris does and he used every bit of it," Brown said. "But Chris is in a different class in terms of when he's on. Usually he's way better."

Two trackwomen make national squad

Penn State will be sending two Lady Lions from the women's indoor track team to Hungary for the Junior Cross Country competition.

Erin St. John placed fourth in this past weekend's trials with a time of 14.47 and Candida McCarthy took sixth place with a time of 14.53, qualifying them for the U.S. Junior Cross Country team.

Teresa Hohnka also competed for a place on the team; however, she did not qualify with her time of 15.23, good for 15th place.

Coach Teri Jordan is very proud of the two qualifiers.

"Going to Hungary is an outstanding opportunity for them and it is prestigious that Penn State has two members on the team," Jordan said.

Compulsories plague gymmen at nationals

He was expected to do it again.

His coach predicted it. His teammates hoped for it. He had trained specifically for it.

When gymnast Mike Masucci boarded the plane to Colorado, he knew that he would be facing the best gymnasts in the country at Winter Nationals. He never doubted that the competition would be intense. But Masucci proved he could handle the pressure last year when he finished fifth, claiming one of 14 spots on the U.S. team.

This year, however, nothing went according to plan. Four Penn State gymnasts qualified for the competition, but none were able to secure positions on the national team.

Masucci placed 20th out of 40 competitors with an overall score of 100.6, and sophomore Tony Pansy came in 36th scoring 94.9.

Freshmen J.M. Michel and Joe Roemer were each performing for one of seven places on the junior national team. Out of 21 competitors, Michel finished 10th with a score of 90.45. Roemer, who was making his first appearance at a USA Championship meet, scored a 78.55.

The difference between collegiate and national formats may have been a problem for the gymnasts. At Winter Nationals, they must perform both compulsories and optionals. During their dual-meet season, the Lions only perform optionals. Teammate Dave Riordan guessed that this lack of experience with compulsories might have hindered the Lions.

"There are a lot of gymnasts out there now that are taking all of their time and spending it on compulsories," he said, "but when you're in college gymnastics, you have to have optionals first because that's what we compete."

Riordan added that mastering compulsories is not an easy task.

"There are a lot of tricky moves," he said. "They take a long time to learn."

PSU doubles team ousted in Dallas

The top-seeded tennis duo in the Eastern Region lost in the first round over the weekend at the National Indoor Collegiate Championships in Dallas.

Penn State's doubles team of freshman Michael Carter and senior Chad Skorupka lost to Joakim Appleqvist and Ali Hamedeh of Ole Miss by the score of 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Appleqvist and Hamedeh are the No. 3 ranked team in the nation.

In the consolation bracket, Carter and Skorupka were ousted by the team of Peter Kuhn and Olive Ullyett of South Alabama, 7-5, 7-6 (8-6).