Rich Lorenzo, Penn State's wrestling coach, believes in setting goals. Not easy goals, but goals that require maximum commitment and effort.

Lorenzo's goal for his team, not only this year but every year, is to win the National Championship. It is the pinnacle of collegiate wrestling, the very best a team can do. The Lions go after the title this weekend at the Nationals in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Wrestling means everything to Lorenzo. The challenge of molding young men into the best they can be never fades, it keeps him going. In turn, Lorenzo challenges his wrestlers to challenge themselves.

The Lions practice five days a week for at least two hours a day. They lift weights three days a week for about an hour. The team also runs long distances daily, usually between four and eight miles. Then there is the constant battle to control weight. All of that is done in preparation for this weekend's shot at the title.

"You've got to be able to push yourself day in and day out," senior 118-pounder Ken Chertow says. "When you get tired, you've got to go beyond that limit, otherwise when you get out in a real match, the other guy's going to find your breaking point. The idea is to eliminate your breaking point. It's painful, but it's what we've got to do."

A fraternal bond among the wrestlers develops amid the anguish. Lorenzo says the pain, the sacrifice, the commitment is impossible for those outside the sport to understand.

"Wrestling is such an amazing sport," Lorenzo says. "The demands it puts on you physically, psychologically, are incredible. It's hard to appreciate the amount of work that goes into wrestling somebody every bit as good as you or even better than you. Yet the reward is the internal peace, the internal satisfaction, which is so valuable you never forget it.

"I don't think you'll meet a wrestler that's given 100 percent say 'I'm sorry I did that.' They're happy they did it. It makes them much more able to handle the pressures and challenges of everyday life."

Penn State is one of a handful of teams capable of taking the National Championship. The same was true last year, but the Lions did not wrestle well at all, finishing 21.5 points behind Arizona State. The performance bothered Lorenzo and he guaranteed it would not happen again.

"I'm real happy with the way the team has prepared itself this year," he says. "There's a lot of motivation from within, a lot of team motivation to win. Our No. 1 priority, our goal, is winning the national title. If our eight guys go out and wrestle all the way up to their maximum capacity, I think we will."