The women's track team started its outdoor season by dominating the Lady Lion Invitational on Saturday.

Penn State won 11 of the 16 events, and eight athletes qualified for Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships. Several athletes also had lifetime-best performances.

Rain and cold forced many of the events inside. The 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, the jumping events, the 4x400-meter relay, and the two-mile event all were held in the Greenberg Indoor Sports Complex.

"We had both the Nittany Lion Track and the Indoor Sports Complex reserved just in case the weather turned bad," Coach Teri Jordan said. She added athletes can qualify for the outdoor championships during indoor meets and the indoor season. The athletes which qualified for indoor championships also qualified for the outdoors as well, Jordan said.

Kim Kessell won the discus with a 137'5" mark. Perpetua Domitrovich took second, throwing 129'9". Stacy Frank won the hammer throw with an ECAC-qualifing 142'7". Michelle Thompson threw 130'7" for second, and Candace Kaster had a 118'11" throw for third. Thompson and Kaster both had lifetime-best perfomances.

Stacey Gibbs and Jen Crouch qualified for ECACs in the javelin. Gibbs won the event with a 146'10" mark. Crouch threw 142'10" for second.

Assistant coach Jeri Daniels-Elder said the javelin throwers had an outstanding performance.

"The runway was as slick as a sheet of ice, but we still had excellent throws. When we get a dry day, they are going to throw a mile," Daniels-Elder said.

Daniels-Elder won the shot put with a 39'5" throw. Frank placed second with 38'10", and Pam Connell took third with 34'10".

Daniels-Elder said she competed just to fill the field of competitors. She said the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown throwers were not competing and more people were needed in order to run the event.

"I just got lucky," Daniels-Elder said.

Jacky Brown won the 200-meter event in 25.5 seconds. Connell (25.8) and Leslie Hummer (26.2) placed second and third, respectively. Shelley Mitchell won the 400-meter hurdles and qualified for ECACs in 63.4 seconds. Alicia Porro finished second in 67.3 seconds. Dawn Eidson ranked second in the 800 meters with a 2:16.6. Martha Obidinski took third, running 2:19.3.

Laurie Morrow won the 1,500-meter event with a 4:40.1. Jenny Weaver came in second in 4:46.8, and volunteer coach Teressa DiPerna came in third with a 4:47.6. Wendy Nelson won the two-mile run in 10:52.0. Both Amanda Dudley and Holly Bemiss had lifetime bests in the two mile. Dudley ranked second with a 11:10.7, and Bemiss took third in 11:19.7.

The Lady Lions placed both first and second in the 4x400-meter relay. Team A -- Hummer, Brown, Toni Gomez and Amy Kopf -- won the event in 4:04.2. Team B -- Porro, Obidinski, Morrow and Eidson -- finished just behind their teammates in 4:04.6.

Leslie Lippincott won the high jump with a 5'8½" jump. Deb Ford jumped 5'6½" for second, and Sandra Bosnar came in third, also jumping 5'6½". All three qualified for ECACs.

Porro won the triple jump with a 36'9½" mark. Hummer placed second with 36'4½". Connell jumped 19'3½" to win the long jump.

The Lady Lions will travel to N.C. State to compete in the Raleigh Relays on March 30.