A lot of depth and a little bit of luck.

With both, the women's track team could win its second straight indoor ECAC championship title on March 3-4 at Boston University. With at least one athlete qualified in every event, the Lady Lions don't lack depth. The luck, on the other hand, is a different story.

"Now sometimes, it's a little bit of luck as to whether one wins Easterns. I was trying to figure out today how everybody else is going to place their people. If we knew that, then we would definitely win the ECACs," Coach Teri Jordan said.

She explained that it's hard to guess how the 52 other teams will place their athletes in the different events to most strategically place the Penn State athletes.

"Last year, we won the indoor and outdoor back to back, and we'd like to do the same thing. But it's going to be harder this year. There are a bunch of other teams that are really good," senior Teressa DiPerna said.

Though Jordan believes her team is one of the top contenders, she said there are about six other teams who could challenge Penn State if everything went right for them. Among these top schools is Villanova, which last week won the Big East Championships.

"We want everybody to win every race they're in," Villanova coach Marty Stern said.

Stern has this ambitious goal not because he cares about winning the ECACs, but because he wants his runners to gain confidence on a fast track for nationals.

Both Jordan and Stern distinguished between Villanova and Penn State. The Lady Wildcats can rack up points with their powerful middle distances and distances while the Lady Lions have more depth but fewer stars. Georgetown, Pitt, George Mason and St. John's are the other schools to beat.

The Lady Lions will have their last chance to qualify runners and tune up for the ECACs at 10:15 tomorrow morning at the Indoor Sports Complex in the Last Chance Invitational. The meet doesn't have pre-entries, but Jordan said that usually seven or eight smaller Pennsylvania schools attend.

After the home meet the women will enjoy a short weekend at home, but must be back Monday to begin preparation for the ECACs.

A secondary goal at the ECACs to taking the title is using this last opportunity to qualify several people for nationals.

Individually, senior Stacy Prey will try to improve her third-best time in the nation in the 5,000 meters (16:22.88) to an automatically qualifying time. In the 800 meters, DiPerna will try to shave four seconds off her time (2:12.86) to automatically qualify for NCAAs. And sophomore Jackie Brown has less than a second to skim from her time in the 200 meters to qualify.

When the 3,200-meter relay team posted its fastest time (8:54.65) of the season last weekend, it became the No. 9 team in the nation. If it maintains at least the 10th ranking, it will qualify for the NCAA championships.