Trackmen place third in first scored meet of season

By MATT WONG
Collegian Staff Writer

The Penn State men's track and field team had a strong showing in its first scored meet of the season, finishing third this weekend at the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va.

In the two-day meet in which over 50 teams were represented, the Nittany Lions had a team score of 29 points, behind winner Seton Hall (46) and host William & Mary (38).

"It was a great meet for us," co-captain Joe Hubbard said. "We performed well considering it's early in the season."

Because the Colonials focused on relays, the meet only calculated relay events into the scoring. And despite the team's overall good score, co-captain John Gorham still felt the team could have done better while competing in the relays.

The Lions' biggest mistake came in the 4x100 where they started the race strong, but then failed to qualify and score points because of a botched baton pass.

However, the Lions did compete well in other relay events.

Their best performance in the relays came in the 4x200, where they placed second with a time of 1 minute, 26.1 seconds.

In addition, they also finished third in the 4x1500, fourth in the 4x800, fifth in the 4x400 and sixth in both the sprint medley and distance medley relays.

Although the individual competition was not scored, the Lions still performed in impressive fashion in those events, especially in the high jump and javelin.

In the high jump, the Lions swept the top three spots in the event. Ryan Olkowski jumped well for the second time in as many weeks, clearing the bar at 6 feet, 10.75 inches. Teammates Nick Plack and Tyler Yeager followed Olkowski, both jumping with marks of 6-9.

In the javelin, three Lions finished in the top five of the event. Dave Matson finished third, followed by teammates Troy Burkholder and Scott Holsopple.

Also, Chris McGinness won the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:04, and Ben Karcz finished third in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, running in 52.49.

But even with the team's third-place finish and good individual marks, Hubbard said the season is young and there are still a lot of improvements to be made.

"It's still early to tell where we stack up against everyone," Hubbard said. "But we're off on the right foot, headed in the right direction."

The next step for the Lions will be a trip to Villanova this weekend, where they will compete in their first dual meet of the outdoor season.