Trackmen leap into post-season

By COREY MARKLE
Collegian Sports Writer

The Greenberg Indoor Sports Complex was silent except for the hum of the electric lights as Dave Kriz stood waiting to attempt what became his career-best high jump of 7-feet, 1-inch.

As he approched the bar, the sound of the junior's feet hitting the surface of the complex seemed to add to the anticipation. A small crowd still remained to watch the final event of the George Washington's Birthday Invitational on Saturday.

Finally, the tense silence was broken when Kriz cleared the bar and was mobbed by his teammates as he pumped his fists into the air.

"It was an excellent jump," Penn State Coach Harry Groves said.

Kriz's jump gave him a provisional qualifying height for the NCAA Championships to be held March 10-11 in Indianapolis.

Several other Penn State athletes qualified for various championship meets.

Freshman Steve Pina qualified for the NCAAs in the long jump (24-5) and triple jump (48-5). Pina faced stiff competition from three unattached athletes in the long jump and triple jump.

Penn State graduate student Andrew Hardyk (25-7) and senior Antonio Davis (25-6), who will compete for the Lions in the outdoor season, took the first two spots in the long jump and qualified for the United States Amateur Track and Field Championships next month in Atlanta.

Another unattached athlete, Rick Hall, who is a Lion assistant coach, broke his own complex record in the triple jump (53-2) and also qualified for the USATF Championships.

The meet, which featured unattached athletes along with athletes from Shippensburg and Thiel, at times resembled a scrimmage for the Lions -- especially in the track events. Many of the events pitted Lions against each other.

The 3,000 meters was a back-and-forth battle between Lion runners Ch Arosemena, Kyle Bernhardy and Bob Hamer.

Hamer, competing in his first meet since breaking his collarbone at the Patriot Games on Feb. 5, started out strong and took the early lead, with Arosemena close behind. Hamer (8:40.55) faded down the stretch, and Arosemena (8:33.86) took the lead and held on to win, followed by Bernhardy (8:36.55).

Hamer said his two-week layoff has affected his conditioning and contributed to his fade at the end.

"The layoff kind of caught up to me," Hamer said. "I'm just looking to get back in shape right now."

The mile was also dominated by the Lions. Jake Bartholomy (4:14.56) led from start to finish, holding off teammates Harry Stants (4:18.61), Steve Oliver (4:21.18), Jamie Simmonds (4:22.43) and Matt Virtue (4:38.34).

Bartholomy said he was pleased with his run because he was mired in a slump the past few weeks.

"I'm happy," the senior tri-captain said. "It's better than I have been running. It's a step in the right direction."

With the indoor season drawing to a close, the Lions have the Big Ten Championships to look forward to next week. Groves said this week's meet tells little about the Lions' prospects heading into the conference meet.

"The Big Ten is such a grab bag, all this tells you is that there are some guys who can do some things, and you just wait to see how it turns out," he said.