Perhaps the women's track team's dominating performance at the Syracuse Invitational on Sunday made up for its lukewarm showing at the Millrose Games in New York City Friday night.

The only satisfied Lady Lion on Friday was sophomore Kim Kessell who put the shot 45'3½" to come away with fourth place and her second-best throw of the season. She said she had reached a plateau that kept her throws in the high 44" range, so she was pleased to break 45".

One thing that pushed Kessell out of her semi-slump was the high level of competition at the meet, including American great Connie Price, who won the event with an over 55" foot throw.

"I'm ready for a big throw," Kessell said. "I know it's there."

Though the 3,200-meter relay team and the 1,600-meter relay team placed fifth and sixth respectively in front of a crowd of 15,000, senior Pam Connell, who was a member of both teams, doesn't believe that either team was "really into it" at New York. She laughed with embarrassment recalling that Tennessee finished ahead of them even after suffering a fall in the 3,200-meter relay.

"We'll probably be getting a speech about it tomorrow. There wasn't a lot passing -- it seemed like we just ran to finish," Connell said, attributing the team's poor performance to a lack of confidence against high-caliber teams.

Junior Leslie Hummer, a member of the 1,600-meter relay team, said the Lady Lions weren't as mentally prepared as they should have been, and as a result they didn't run aggressively enough. She believes they were affected by nerves, the tremendous size of the meet and the late starting time of the event (11:15 p.m.). Connell was the only Lady Lion who had a run at Millrose previously.

The rest of the team, which did not participate in the Millrose Games, fared better at the Syracuse Invitational on Sunday, winning five events. Over 20 teams competed at Syracuse, including some Canadian teams.

"We dominated more than I would have guessed going into it," Coach Teri Jordan said.

Sophomore Shelly Mitchell was among those who dominated, winning both the high jump at 5'6½" and the 500-meter run with a 1:16.1. Finishing behind Mitchell in these events were sophomore Leslie Lippincott and freshman Heather Carrick, respectively.

"After last week, I felt better," Mitchell said, referring to her performance at the Terrier Classic where she "bombed" with fifth in the 500-meter and seventh in the high jump.

Other first-place finishers were Brown in the 55-meter dash, sophomore Jen Prutzman in the 800-meter and senior distance captain Stacy Prey in the 3,000-meter run. Juniors Wendy Nelson and Leslee Martin were second and third to Prey in the 3,000-meter run. Junior Amanda Dudley finished second in the 1,000-meter run.