"Twenty-five? ... Do I hear 30? ... Thirty over there! ... Do I hear 35?"

Last night, more than 50 students made their way to the HUB Auditorium for the fourth annual Penn State Student-Athlete Auction, led by an auctioneer and emcees Katie Pace and Matt Schmitt, who are Penn State athletes.

Funds from the event go to Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (Thon).

The evening started with an auction of a choice between dance lessons from the dance team or an ice cream social. Bidding started slow for that group, but time constraints hastened the auctioneer and the golf team went home with the prize.

The women's lacrosse team was auctioning off a '70s-themed social, and at first no one seemed to want to bid on them. Finally, Schmitt came to their rescue and reminded the audience that the real prize was a party with 24 college co-eds.

The bidding closed at $150.

The baseball team offered time in the batting cages with them or, surprisingly, salsa dancing lessons. To show that the sluggers do, in fact, have talent on the dance floor, men's volleyball players Ricky Mattei and Carlos Guerra sang while shortstop Willie Melendez danced with an audience volunteer.

Dinner at dinner at Spat's Café and Speakeasy, 142 E. College Ave., with the well-known trio of Penn State football players, Zack Mills, Tony Johnson and Adam Taliaferro, went for $200. Lunch with women's soccer players Christie Welsh and Heidi Drummond went for $125.

"This is my first time doing this. It should be a good time," Welsh said. "I wish I could have done it in the past."

The biggest winners of all were Jessica Moore (senior-biology, business and German) and her friends. The group bid $500 and won a Hawaiian luau with the men's volleyball team. "It's a tradition ... we had a great time and the money goes to the right cause," Moore said.

In order to prove he was a worthy prize, the Nittany Lion did 48 of his infamous one-armed push-ups -- at the demand of the crowd, because Thon is a 48-hour event -- before he was auctioned off.

The auction brought in about $3,000 for the Thon total.

"We were very pleased tonight. We had a great crowd and the emcee's were great," said coordinator and women's lacrosse player Katie Hartman.

All 29 of Penn State's varsity sports were represented in the auction, along with several extra items.

Many of the items auctioned were repeats from last year that went over well, but some of the teams had new ideas that were used this year.

New items included a day of revenge on the Penn State strength trainers. Athletes bid on a chance to put the trainers through the "hell" to which they feel they are subjected. The item went for $250 -- the lucky winners were the men's golf team, who made it a team effort.

"It's a great cause. It's the least we can do," men's golfer Jim Fuller said. "We are going to make [the trainers] suffer though. Our goal is to make them puke."

Other non-team items included a tour of the suites at Beaver Stadium and the All-Sports Museum.