'The good ones'
Trackmen get taste of best at Virginia Tech Invite

By MATT WONG
Collegian Staff Writer

The Penn State men's indoor track and field team got a taste of some of the toughest competition in the nation this weekend.

And the flavor wasn't so satisfying.

The Nittany Lions (11-2) competed in the Virginia Tech Invitational at Blacksburg, Va., placing first in two events in a non-scored meet.

Penn State coach Harry Groves said the meet helped keep the Lions alerted to the talent that exists throughout the country.

"Whenever you go against the good ones, you'll get hammered," Groves said.

But it was the Lions' strong tag team of George Audu and John Gorham that did the hammering in the long jump competition. The duo placed 1-2, as they have grown accustomed to during the season. Audu won the long jump with a leap of 25-6 and Gorham placed second, jumping 25-½.

Audu continues to lead the nation in the long jump and Gorham's jump strengthened his chances of securing a spot in nationals.

Now that some of the pressure has been lifted from Gorham's shoulders, he is relieved and said he now can better focus on the Big Ten Championships next week in Madison, Wis.

Groves said the relay teams fared adequately in Virginia considering the extremely fast competition.

The 4x800 relay team of Andrew Jenkins, Johan Sandquist, Joe Hubbard and Bradd Del Muto finished second with a time of 7 minutes, 41.71 seconds. The distance medley relay team of Del Muto, Ben Karcz, Hubbard and Sandquist finished fifth with a time of 9:56.40, behind three teams that qualified for nationals.

Despite losing to good competition, Del Muto still felt the Lions could have performed better in the relays.

"We need to start doing great things instead of good things," Del Muto said. "We have to step it up."

In addition, the Lions also competed in 400-meter section races. Karcz finished first in his section with a time of 48.71, and Steve Janci took second in his heat running a time of 49.55.

"It was good preparation for next week," Groves said. "We stepped out in every event and faced good competition."

And next week's competition will be no exception as the Big Ten has no weak teams and should prove to be an intense meet.

But the Lions are confident. In addition, they will be well rested and anxious to compete because the whole team did not travel to Virginia.

The Lions are hoping the added rest and confidence will translate into a sweeter taste come next weekend.