Trackmen shine at relays

The Penn State men's track team had a record-breaking weekend at the Bucknell-Hershey Relays and came home with some extra hardware -- two five-pound Hershey chocolate bars.

This was the first meet in which the Nittany Lions had a chance to run relay events and they showed no signs of rust. The sprint medley relay team of Ben Karcz, John Whelan, Duane Reeves and Joe Loner broke the 20-year Penn State indoor sprint medley relay record of 3-minutes, 28.80 seconds with a time of 3:28.35.

"It was exciting," Loner said. "It feels good to improve on records at your school."

The 4x400 relay team squeaked out a victory against a competitive Coppin State squad. For its efforts in the race, the relay team was named the Outstanding Relay Team of the meet and received the reward of a five-pound Hershey bar.

"Coppin State gave us a good run," Loner said, "but Ben Karcz pulled it through for us at the end."

Loner said the chocolate bar was a neat and interesting prize, and it was different to be rewarded with chocolate rather than a metal. He said the members of the relay team will divide the bar between the four of them.

Coach Harry Groves said it was the most competitive race to watch because it came down to the anchor lap of the race.

"The relays bring out team mindness," Groves said. "We were working well as a team."

The other Hershey bar went to junior John Gorham, who was named the Outstanding Field Athlete of the meet for breaking both the field house and meet records in the long jump with a mark of 25 feet.

Groves figured Gorham would be jumping 25 feet early in the season due to his good training. His jump was good enough to get him on the list for the NCAA national meet held March 13-14 -- albeit at the bottom of that list.

But Gorham is confident he can get a better jump by the end of the season.

"Marks for the NCAA is tough," Groves said. "A lot of good people who should get there don't get there."

Gorham has had a successful first two meets for the Lions with three first-place finishes -- two in the long jump and one in the triple jump. He said his success has come from the training and advice from assistant coach Andrew Hardyk, who is experienced in the long jump.

Gorham said he's happy about the mark because his goal was to try to qualify early for nationals.

"Qualifying early will make it easier for the rest of the season," he said. "I will try not to focus on nationals and focus on the meets."

Along with Gorham, the Lions had success from Neal McNutt, who finished first in the in the 35-pound weight throw with a mark of 61-4 1/4, which set a new meet and field house record. Jayson Jackson finished second in the mile run. The distance medley relay and the shuttle hurdles squad also posted good times.

This weekend, the Lions will travel to West Point, N.Y., to participate in the Black Knight Quadrangular Meet.

"It's going to be a real intense meet," Groves said. "Academies really get into scoring competition."

Not into chocolate bars.