Trackmen's team effort pays off at Colonial Relays

By COREY MARKLE
Collegian Sports Writer

In a sport in which individual performances are often highlighted, the men's outdoor track team used a team effort to carry it to success.

The Lions finished second out of 70 teams competing in the relay portion of the Colonial Relays held Friday and Saturday in Williamsburg, Va. Penn State scored 51.5 points, while first-place Seton Hall scored 61 points.

The Lions scored in every relay event, including a second-place finish by the 1,500-meter relay team of senior Matt Hutzelmann, senior Jake Bartholomy, junior Ch Arosemena and senior Tom McGlynn (15:44.9). Senior Mark Crawford, junior Scott Sechler, junior Kevin Spencer and senior Todd Kletter also teamed to take second in the sprint medley relay (3:23.4).

Penn State Coach Harry Groves said the key to the Lions' high finish was their depth.

"It's unusual that you have that many people that you can spread them around like that," he said. "We were lucky that we didn't have to double anyone up and have them run two events in the same day."

Arosemena, who also teamed up with senior Leif Steiner, freshman Jeremy Culver and junior Jason Smith on the fourth-place distance medley relay team (10.70), said he was happy with the team's performance in the meet.

"I'd rather finish first," he said, "but I think we're coming together well as a team."

Arosemena said he was especially pleased with the 1,500-meter relay team because it did better than expected.

"It was a good showing by four guys who weren't supposed to do this good," he said.

In addition to the relays, several Lions competed in individual events that were not part of the scoring. Bartholomy took second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:03), ahead of senior teammate Steve Oliver (9:13.20). Junior Dave Kriz finished second in the high jump (6-9) and senior Antonio Davis took second in the triple jump (50-7). Freshman Steve Pia had a second-place finish in the long jump (24-6).

In the field events, junior Bill McGinley finished third in the shot put (47-10). Junior Robert Austin took fifth in the javelin (207-5).

In addition to Penn State track team members, a few athletes affiliated with Penn State competed as open athletes. Penn State Assistant Coach Ricardo Hall beat Davis in the triple jump (51-9), while graduate student Andrew Hardyk edged out Pia in the long jump (24-8) and won the 100-meter dash (10.74).