Men's Indoor Track Coach Harry Groves took the Lions to the Florida/Barnett Bank Invitational on Sunday hoping to showcase the distance medley relay team.

However, the Lions found themselves in the middle of the pack in one of the most hotly contested races of their season before finishing seventh overall (34.5).

Penn State finished fifth (9:58.65) in the distance medley behind four teams that each broke the Invitational record -- Florida (9:33.86), Villanova (9:35.75), Georgetown (9:38.08) and George Mason (9:38.29).

"That was probably one of the best distance medley relays ever run," Groves said. "Usually with times like that, one team breaks away. The top four finishers all ran at that pace."

Penn State's team of Ch Arosemena, James Robbins, Tom McGlynn and Bob Hamer finished with a time good enough to qualify for the IC4A Championships in March. The top four finishers set NCAA qualifying times.

"We were basically outmanned," Hamer said. "I'm not saying we can't run with those guys. They just ran a good race."

Groves said the Lions could have had a better time in the relay, but when it became obvious they could not catch the first four teams, he told anchor Hamer to take it easy on the final leg.

"We fell behind early, out of no fault of the guys before me," Hamer said. "It was pretty obvious I wasn't going to make up the time by myself, so I just took it easy."

While the Lions were unable to make their mark in the meet's premier event, they were able to grab a few individual first-place finishes. Senior Jake Bartholomy took first in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:26.92. Vin Stewart finished first in the shotput with a throw of 56 feet, 2 inches.

"The big things in this for us were Jake and Stewart," Groves said.

Penn State also received a strong effort from Hamer, who finished third in the mile, and Damon Reed, who took fourth in the 200 meters.

Despite taking less than half of their team to the meet, the Lions were able to finish seventh in the 11-team field. Host Florida won with 115 points. Groves said the meet was more important from an individual standpoint rather than a team standpoint.

"We didn't go to score," he added. "If we took the whole team, we probably would've finished second behind Florida."