Trackmen find scattered success at Hershey Relays
Lions claim first-place in two events

By MATT WONG
Collegian Staff Writer

The Penn State men's indoor track team continued its season by winning two events in the Bucknell-Hershey Relays this weekend.

Although neither of the victories occurred in relays, the event on which the Nittany Lions were focusing in the two-day event, the team was not disappointed with its performance, co-captain John Gorham said.

"We did well, but it wasn't a great meet," he said. "We could have done better."

The Lions shined in other areas, however, taking first-place in both the 35-pound weight throw and the long jump. Carl Wolter won the weight throw competition with a mark of 53 feet, 7 inches and Duane Reeves took the long jump with a career-best leap of 24-3˝.

Despite not placing first in any of the relays, the Lions did hold their own.

The sprint medley relay team of Ben Karcz, Duane Reeves, Gorham and Joe Hubbard took second, breaking the Penn State indoor sprint medley relay record of 3 minutes, 28.35 seconds, set last year, with a new time of 3:27:70. The 4x800 relay also finished second.

In addition, the Lions took second place in many other events. On Friday Chad McKonly took second in the 5,000-meter run, as did Nick Plack in the triple jump. Dave Matson took second in the shot put on Saturday.

"We're not shouting, ‘Hallelujah', but we're not crying about it," Penn State coach Harry Groves said. "Every time we got beat the other team did something exceptional. It was one of those days where things were fast."

And Groves was appreciative of the good competition.

"The competition was good, the way it's supposed to be," he said. "We don't go look around for easy meets -- otherwise we wouldn't excel."

The Lions will head to West Point, N.Y. next week to face more competition of this caliber.

"It's going to be interesting," Groves said. "It's going to be fun, and I think we're ready."