SPORTS BRIEFS: Thursday, April 22, 1999

CBS will not broadcast Penn Relays this year For the first time in three years, the Relays will not be broadcast on network television. Last year was the final year of a three-year contract between the University and CBS Sports to televise the Relays. The network signed the deal while trying to increase its sports coverage after losing out on a contract to cover NFL games to Fox and on the long-term television rights to the Olympic Games to NBC. Last year, CBS reclaimed a portion of the NFL television rights. According to Penn Relays Director Dave Johnson, CBS decided not to renew the contract with Penn this year. The 1996 agreement stipulated that CBS would cover the costs to televise the Relays for three years, Johnson said. "We had a sweetheart deal three years ago when CBS had lost both football and the Olympic Games," Johnson said. "They were looking for programming of all different sorts and we were one of the beneficiaries of what they were looking to package." But now that the contract has expired, the University would have to fund the costs of production and air time itself, which Johnson said would be too expensive. Although he would not comment on the exact figure, Johnson said it would be in excess of six figures. "It just wasn't financially feasible to do it again this year," Johnson said. Penn Athletic Communications Director Shaun May said he was disappointed that the Relays would not be broadcast again this year. "Any time you're able to be on a network like CBS it's a great opportunity," May said. The airing of the Relays in 1996 -- the first year of the agreement -- was the second time the Penn Relays were aired on a broadcast network. The Relays first appeared on network television in 1966 when ABC aired a short segment of the event during an edition of its "Wide World of Sports." -- Karlene Hanko Cebulski wins decathlon at 105th Penn Relays The Penn Relays will be in full swing this weekend,but several athletes have already completed their competition. Joseph Cebulski from Taylor University finished first in the men's college decathlon with 7,391 points. In the two-day competition that ended yesterday, Cebulski won three of the 10 events to pull out a 97 point win over Dartmouth's Greg Johnston. Although there were no team scores, Liberty's squad was the deepest. The Flames had three athletes finish in the top six. Penn's decathletes -- Josh Coleman, Matt Newcomb and Tyler Mullins -- placed 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively. Coleman nearly came back from a 309-point deficit after the first day to pull ahead of 10th-place Matt Strang from Buffalo but ultimately finished 20 points behind. -- Jason Bodnar Women's rugby ends its season at West Chester There will be no Wayne Gretzky-like fanfare for Penn scrumhalf Sarah Mulholland in her rugby finale. Instead, the senior star of the women's rugby club quietly makes her Penn exit this weekend at the West Chester Tournament -- a 24-team, two-day competition featuring teams mainly from the East Coast. As the No. 2 seed, the Quakers (1-4) look to send Mulholland away with a parting championship. Victory, however, will not come easily. To advance to Sunday's bracket play, the Red and Blue must first win two-of-three against West Chester, Susquehana and Elon College. That will prove difficult, given the Red and Blue have merely one win this season -- a 17-5 downing of Temple in the season opener. "West Chester is going to be pretty tough for us," Penn junior captain Lauren Entrekin said. "But we also faced tough competition last weekend." Teams like Susquehana and Elon College should prove more within Penn's capabilities than last weekend's Ivy League competition. Penn was overmatched in last weekend's Ivy Tournament, playing against nationally ranked teams like Princeton and Dartmouth. In addition, Harvard shocked both Princeton and Dartmouth last weekend -- and beat Penn as well -- en route to the Ivy title. But according to Entrekin, the team showed improvement last weekend against the top-flight competition. If the Quakers maintain a high level of intensity this weekend, Mulholland may earn exactly what eluded Gretzky in his send-off last week -- a final win. -- Marc Edelman