Trackmen put drilling on Army

The Army was not all it could be, but Penn State was this weekend at the Black Knight Quadrangular meet in West Point, N.Y.

The Lions finished first in the team-scoring meet with 135 points. Host Army finished second with 99 points.

Penn State coach Harry Groves said going into the meet the team couldn't win off of just a few people -- it had to be a full team effort. The team took his advice to heart by earning 11 first-place finishes to go along with 10 seconds and six thirds.

George Audu had a big day for the Lions, beating out teammate John Gorham in the triple jump with a mark of 48-5 1/2 and in the long jump with a mark of 24-5 1/4.

"Audu and Gorham have a rivalry," coach Harry Groves said. "They don't let anyone else win."

The Lion relay teams kept up the winning ways with two first-place finishes in the 4x400 and the 4x800 meter races.

The 4x800 relay team, consisting of Steve Walsh, Sean Will, Pat Dolan and Bradd Del Muto, finished the race with a time of 7 minutes, 56.10 seconds.

The 4x400 team of Eric Kline, Joe Hubbard, Joe Loner and Ben Karcz finished with a time of 3:19.47. Karcz was happy with the victory, but said he was disappointed in his performance.

"The first three guys got me a 40-meter lead," Karcz said, "and my head wasn't really in it. We won as a team effort."

Loner added that the team would have liked to run faster, but accomplished the overall goal of winning the race.

Loner and Hubbard continued their success in the meet during the 800-meter race finishing first and second. Loner finished with a time of 1:54.55 and Hubbard ran a 1:54.68.

"We controlled the whole race," Loner said. "We got the lead and no one came up and passed us."

The Lions got the same strong results out of Neal McNutt in the 35-pound weight throw. McNutt finished first in the event with a toss of 60-5. Carl Wolter finished third in the event with a throw of 55-5 1/2. That toss caught the eye of coach Groves because it was three feet further than Wolter's personal best.

Next weekend, McNutt will represent Penn State at the Terrier Classic held in Boston.

Groves made the decision to pull other members of the team out of the Terrier Classic to prepare for the next big scoring meet on Feb. 7 against Princeton and Connecticut. Groves said that the meet will test the team as a whole.

"It should be the best meet in the East," Groves said. "There will probably be four to five events that qualify for the NCAA Nationals."