Trackmen run away with title in first meet

Led by the multi-event exploits of sophomore George Audu, the men’s track team stormed out to a solid start to the 1999 indoor season by taking home the title at last Saturday’s West Virginia Collegiate Meet in Morgantown, W.V.

Penn State won the meet with 220 points, followed by host West Virginia (125), Robert Morris (95), Pitt (76) and Ohio University (38).

Audu was in midseason form at the year's outset, winning two individual titles and running a leg in a relay to help win a third. Audu set a personal best in the long jump, leaping 25 feet eight inches, good enough for NCAA qualification. Audu also snagged first place in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.93 seconds and ran a leg of the first-place Penn State 4x4 relay team.

Audu set the standard and his teammates followed suit, as a number of other first-place crowns fell into Penn State's hands.

Dave Matson took home the title in the shot put competition with a mark of 50.5 feet. Craig Parsons won the pole vault with a mark of 14 feet.

Other Penn State winners included Bradd DelMuto in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:31.89 and Ben Karcz in the 500-meter dash with a time of 1:05.2.

Lion coach Harry Groves was pleased with his team's hot start.

"You are coming off an outdoor season and everyone is in the same boat. It depends on your fall conditioning," he said. "Our guys did a great job."