After several months of long, grueling practices the Penn State Tae Kwon Do Club was ready to put its skills to the test at the State Championships at East Stroudsburg University on Saturday.

All of the hard work paid off, as eight members qualified for the national competition and a total of 10 medals were won. The National Championships will be held May 6-8 in Atlanta, Ga.

"About 500 people competed," Coach Sam Chaar said. "The competition was very tough, but the hours of training paid off."

Janae Williams, a 1992 graduate of Penn State, won two gold medals for form and fighting in the women's middleweight division, and Peter Bromfield (graduate-meteorology) won a gold medal for form in the men's lightweight division.

Bromfield said winning the medal was a challenge, but to see all of his hard work pay off was really great.

Joel Morrah, an 11-year-old member of the club, won a gold medal. By winning the medal Morrah is eligible to compete in the Junior Olympics, July 14-16 in Chicago, Ill.

"Joel did an outstanding job,"said Chaar. "He was faced with some tough opponents. He took the challenge and succeeded."

Morrah competed against other boys in the junior middleweight division.

"It was a good competition," Morrah said. "I expected to see more, there were only three others competing, but it was still tough."

Hardie Cooper (senior-psychology) won a bronze medal for form in the heavyweight division, and Soung Young Kim (senior-exercise and sport science) won a silver medal for form and a bronze medal for fighting in the welterweight division.

Davion Clark (graduate-mechanical engineering) won a bronze medal for fighting in the lightweight division.

"It was awesome," Clark said. "I was nervous, I had no idea what to expect. This was my first time competing at this level."

Sung Bin Yun (junior-architectual engineering) won a bronze medal for fighting in the welterweight division.

"I thought the competition was good," said Yun. "I have only been taking Tae Kwon Do for 10 months, and this was my first time in competition. This was a great experience for me."

Points were given to the competitors from four judges. Gold, silver, bronze and fourth-place medals were awarded. Two bronze medals were awarded for fighting in each class.