The Penn State men's boxing team built on its success from last week's strong home match, going 7-1 at the Lock Haven Invitational on Saturday.

What is so impressive about the performance is that four of the seven wins were not by decision, but by RSC's (referee stopped contest), similar to a knockout.

Bret King, Eric Bradley, Miles Rivas and Ryan Manning all had to have the referee stop the fight because of the beatings they were inflicting on their respective opponents. Pat Sullivan, Joe Smith and Luke Runion took the matches with decisions. Paul Brenner was not only sparring with his opponent, but was also fighting the flu and had the only loss that went to a decision.

It was the first match of King's career, and he didn't waste any time getting his first win. In the first round he knocked Virginia Military Institute's boxer to the mat three times, a very difficult feat.

"It was my first fight and I was nervous," King said, "but when I got in the ring it just felt like sparring."

Sullivan was matched up against VMI's top boxer, Anthony Peters. Peters is a three-year veteran for VMI, and is a southpaw-style fighter. Peters had Sullivan in trouble during the first round, but Penn State boxing coach Bill Wrable gave Sullivan the necessary adjustments for the southpaw, and Sullivan took the match to the third round, where he landed a devastating right hook that left Peters' nose bloody.

In the heavyweight bout, Runion played the role of David again, as he went up against Goliath. Miami of Ohio's Joe Smith weighed 260 pounds, out-weighing Runion by forty pounds. In the first round, Smith had his way with Runion, but once Runion got up inside Smith, he just out-boxed him.

"I am getting confident more and more each week, and I don't let the size of the guy intimidate me at all." Runion said.

Rivas said the team was treating this invitational as if it was the Regional tournament.

"We did well, but frankly the other teams were not great," he said. "I hope the team can see that we are in the group of better teams, but we need to work hard to stay there."

Penn State assistant coach Andy Sharp didn't want the team to confuse the team's success with playing less formidable opponents.

"I am proud of these guys," he said. "They work so hard and it is nice to see it pay off."