Pa E. SIX
ttany Gymnasts
T. 10 ef en d Crown
Penn State's gymnasts . went through light workouts at Rec Hall the past two dayg
with one -eye pealed on the apparatus and the other sighted on the challenge that awaits
them this weekend at the University of Illinois.
The Lions will be looking for their second straight National Collegiate crown, .when
they face the nation's best Friday and Satur day.
The Nittanies will depart at 7 tonight for. the site of the 12th annual gym tournament.
Coach Gene Wettstone's charges will have more than last year's championship
hey enter the annual classic.
crown to back them, when t
Wettstone, in his 15th year as
State's gym mentor, carries a won
lost record of 48-21-1 . during that
span. The last 15 of those victories
came in consecutive order.
Own Two NCAA Titles
His teams have carried away
two national titles during his
reign in the Nittany Vale. The
first championship was won in
1948, second coming last year. In
addition, his gym stalwarts have
captured Eastern honors five
times-1942, '43, '45, '4B, and '53.
Three National Amateur Athletic
Union crowns have also been won
under Wettstone. The Lions did
the trick in 1943. '45, and '4B.
The present version of Nittany
gymnasts rolled up six consecu
tive intercollegiate wins in their
past campaign, and as a result re
peated as Eastern champs for the
second straight year. They de
feated Michigan State, Syracuse,
Navy, Army, Temple, and West
Virginia en route to the unde
feated campaign.
Dominate Meet
In the recent annual Eastern
meet, which consists only of in
dividual competition, State com
pletely dominated the action to
cop six of the eleven events.
Last year the Lions almost cap
tured the title in the preliminar
ies, by eliminating the majority
of their highly ranked individual
opponents.
At the close of the first-night
action. the Staters led the field
of 23 teams with 22 team points.
The final ;tabulations showed
the Nittanies ahead of runner-up
Illinois by '23 counters. They end
ed up with a total of 91. The Illini,
last year's Western Conference
champs, were followed by Florida
State, Syracuse, UCLA, Minne
sota, Michigan State, and Army
in respective order. Southern Cal
ifornia and lowa tied for ninth
pl ace.
Win Fifth Title
In the Western Conference gym
meet held at Ohio State on March
12-13, the • Illini easily won its
fifth straight Big Ten title. They
were followed by Minnesota,
Michigan, and .the Spartans of
Michigan State. As a result, Illi
nois is rated as one of the four
opponents the Lions will have to
stop •if they are to retain the
crown.
The other three are Florida
State, UCLA, and Southern Cal—
all top contenders for last year's
In the previous tourney, the
Nittanies were picked to come in
fifth place, while Florida State's
Seminoles were top seeded in the
meet. But they could only man
age the number five position with
21 team points. .
Four Eastern Teams • •
In addition to the Nittany Lions,
gyninasts from Temple, Navy, and
Syracuse will be the big repre
sentatives from the East in the
tourney. The Orange were rated
right behind the Lions among the
Eastern
,aggrt - ;gations last year, al
though they failed to place in the
to ten.
The Nittanies will go through
a full workout at Huff gym to
morrow afternoon, and then rest
until Friday's preliminaries begin.
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Single Breasted
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By RON GATEHOUSE
_ gr._
which has enabled him to spearhead the Penn State gymnasts for
the past two seasons. Cronstedt will lead State in quest of its
second consecutive National Collegiate title, Friday and Saturday
when he and nine Lions travel to the 'University of Illinois.
Werner Seeks
rack Talent
"Round and round it goes and where it stops nobody knows."
These are the now famous words of the equally famous Major
Bowes and Ted Mack on their respective talent shows.
Nittany Track Coach Chick Werner may be compared to these
two great talent scouts, for he too is in search of promising young
stars. Wet.liter's annual hunt for
candidates for his track and field
team has brought fame to his
squads year after year.
The Lion mentor is now search
ing for material for this spring's
thinclad team. This season, the
call is for both freshmen and
upperclassmen. For the first time
in many years the freshmen - will
have a regular schedule.
Last season, -the frosh competed
in "telegraphic" meets. Under
this setup, they comp et e d
throughout the week on the Bea
ver Field track and their per
formances were . recorded - by
freshmen - Coach Norm Gordon.
These results were sent to the
University, where they were com
pared to those of the opposing
team. The freshman thinclads ac
tually never faced -their oppon
ents.
On the basis of the perform
ances by the two teams, the order
of finish was determined. Al
though the frosh did have these
meets, they did not get the actual
experience of battling the op
position face to face, which they
will be doing this season.
Previous experience is not re
quired by Werner. Many. of Penn
State's finest track and field stars
took to the sport' for the first
time, when they came to the
University. Werner, regarded as
one of the finest track coaches in
the nation, has moulded many un-
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN STATE COLLEGE PENNIVIVANIA
experienced performers into stars.
.The only thing Werner requires
of his trackmen is the "will and
love to participate in the sport."
Horace Ashenfelter and Q Curt
Stone are two top runners who
gained national and international
fame even though they had never
competed before coming to Penn
State. "Ash" jumped from an un
heralded freshman to an Olympic
Gold Medai winner under Wer
ner's tutelage. Stone is one of the
top distance runners in the na
tion and has also competed in the
Olympic Games.
Those interested in track should
report to Werner or Gordon in
Rec Hall. The Lion mentor has
spun the "Wheel of Fortune"
once again, and when it stops he
hopes 't will rest on another out
standing track and Penn State
field squad.
Cockell Beats LaStarza;
Boosts Title Chances
LONDON, March 30 (EP)—
Pudgy Don Cockell, British Em
pire heavyweight champion, to
night scored an upset 10 round
decision over New York's Roland
LaStarza, boosting his chances for
a shot at the world title.
A capacity crowd of 18,000 in
Earls Court arena saw the 25-
year-old former blacksmith come
from belmd.
State Pitching
Pleases Bedenk
By HERM WEISICOPF
Nittany Baseball Coach „Joe Bedenk had
.goog reason to' smile
yesterday. He was evaluating his pitching staff for the coming sea : -
son and noted that Keith Vesling and Garland Gingerich, his two
aces from last year, are back again.
These two motindsmen got credit for 13 of ithe 14 wins the Lions
racked up last season. The two
pace-setters were almost equally
effective during the 1953 cam
paign.
Vesling won nine of eleven de
cisions and Gingerich was victor
ious in four of seven games. How
ever, statistics must be thoroughly
investigated before they are of
any real significance.
Vesling's. Percentage .819
Although Vesling's won and lost
percentage was much higher than.
Gingerich's—.Bl9 to .572—the lat
ter's earned run average was the
lower of the two-1.49 to 1.83. In
98 1 / 2 innings Vesling gave up 60.
hits and 33 bases •on balls and
struck out 83. Gingerich permitted
34 hits and 14 walks and struck
out 42 in 54 1 / 2 innings on the
mound.
Breaking these statistics down,
it can be seen that Vesling was
tagged for 5.5 hits and 3.0 walks
a game and averaged 7.5 strike
outs each nine innings.. Ginger
ich's figures break down this way:
hits and walks per game, 5.7 and
2.3, and strikeouts for each nine
innings, 7.0. These statistics are
amazing no matter how you look
at them and, they give evidence
of the true ieffectiveness of this
ace duo.
6.2 in 1952
In 1952 Vesling posted a record
of six wins and two losses. He
toiled 65 innings, struck out 52
batters, and had a 2.22 earned run
average that season. He was one
of the big reasons why the Lions
captured the District Two, title
and placed third in the college
"World Series."
Besides Vesling and Gingerich,
Bedenk can call on seniors Sam
Curtis and Dave Lucas and soph
omores Allan Leonard, Wendell
Larimer, and Lynn Harbold for
mound duty.
The Lion pitching staff will
have a, hard time duplicating the
2.28 earned run average it posted
last season, but with twirlers like
Vesling and Gingerich back, there
is a good chance the opposition
will have a tough time ,getting
runs.
Vesling and Gingerich are both
seniors and both pitch right
handed. Vesling is one of the two
men on the team who have picked
up two letters in baseball. The
other is third baseman. Hubie
Kline. Gingerich is the third of
the eight returning lettermen.
Barbell Club to Meet
The Penn State Barbell Club
will meet at 7 tonight in 102 Wil
lard. Movies of the Mr. and Mrs.
USA contests will be shown.
ONLY
TOPCOATS
WEDNESDAY. MARCH 31. 1954
14 &lathier)
Advance to
IM Finals
Delta - Upsilon increased its
lead in the intramural wrestling
tournament last night, as six frat
ernity and eight independent
grapplers entered the final round.
Semi-final action will -take place
at 7:30 tonight and- the finals will
he held at 8 p.m. tomorrow.
. •
DU leads the team-'scoring with
70 points, while Chi Phi is -next
with 62. Third place is held by
Delta Chi with 60 points, and Pi
Kappa Phi is fourth with 54. Sig
ma Phi Epsilon is fifth with 52.
Although failing to cop any
team points last night, Chi Phi
has a golden opportunity to ac
cumulate points tonight. It will
send three men into combat, while
Delta Upsilon has only Robert
Brubaker competing tonight.
Art Marks, Delta Upsilon 128-
pounder, entered the finals by
winning a 4-0 decision from Tom
Webb, Chi Phi. Marks was in con
trol throughout the match as
Webb failed to escape Marks'
holds.
Beta Theta Pi hurt DU's chances
of adding to their total, when
Ralph Cryder pinned Ted Smith,
Delta Upsilon 135-pounder, in 5:14
with a crotch and body press.
Last year's 175-pound champ,
Andy Krassowski, Pi Kappa Phi,
found his semi-final match with
heavyweight Frank Reich, Theta
Kappa. Phi,- too difficult. Reich
pinhed him in 1:42 with a crotch
and body press. In another heavy
weight match, Bob DiJoseph, Sig
ma Phi Epsilon, won• a close 3-2
decision over George Weaver,
Delta Chi. Both men recorded a
reversal while DiJoseph was cred
ited with time advantage.
Bob Wylie, Pi Kappa Phi, won
a referee's decision over 128-
pound Murray Horewitz, Phi Sig
ma Delta. The match ended 3-3.
Wylie had three escapes,' while
Horewitz was credited with a take
doi.vn and time advantage.
John Milsom, Alpha Zeta 165-
pounder, reached the finals by
(Continued on page seven)
JACK HARPER
TODAY
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os
lA. I.OR
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Enters Finals
Referee's Decision