General :: Awk Gsub() Command - String (column) Manipulation - Replace The Value Of The $1 Column In The Awk Print String?

i use this script to get the time and date of back and fourth transactions for a particular execution id. I use a substr command on the 5th column to to cut the milli seconds off the time value. - otherwise the times would look like 08:30:04.235

grep <executionID> <auditfile> | awk '{ print $1, $2, $3, $4, substr($5,1,8}
FIX -> Mon 3/1/2010 08:30:04
FIX <- Mon 3/1/2010 08:32:36
FIX <- Mon 3/1/2010 08:35:08

[code].....

anyhow - i append two sed commands to further clarify the direction of the message.

awk '{ print $1, $2, $3, $4, substr($5,1,8} | sed -e 's/->/ ->IN/g' | sed -e 's/<-/<-OUT/g'
FIX -> IN Mon 3/1/2010 08:30:04
FIX <- OUT Mon 3/1/2010 08:32:36

[code]....

I tried using an awk gsub () command within the string instead of the two seds, but it did not work:

awk '{ print gsub(/<regex>/, <replace with>,$1), $2, $3, $4, substr($5,1,8}

the sed works ok, but it would be cooler to make the replacement within the awk command:

gsub(/->/,-> IN, $1)

Is there a way where i could replace the value of the $1 column in the awk print string?