After the first three events in Saturday's dual track meet, Penn State was down 21-2 to Navy, and in serious need of a "big" race.

Then voila -- the "big" sweep arrived. As easy as one-two-three.

Aidan O'Reilly, Doug Walter, and Phil Mellott finished first-second-third in the 1,500 meter run, earned nine points, and brought the Lions back into the meet, which Penn State eventually won, 93-70, at Annapolis, Md.

And as that race unfolded, the pre-meet concerns from Navy coach Steve Cooksy about his team's distance running hit home hard. The Lions not only won the 1,500, they also captured the 800, 5,000, the 4x400 relay and placed high in the 400 to take firm control of the meet. Penn State exploited Navy's weaknesses and won with what it usually does best: RUN.

"The meet was close for a while, especially in the beginning," Coach Harry Groves said. "We'd go ahead and hang on, then they'd come back, then we'd go ahead again and hang on. Change an event here or there and it's a different story."

In dual-meet track, each event is significant. And every one of the 19 events was definitely a key to the Lions' victory.

"When the meet was close, I told each one of them (on the team) to be aware of the significance of their event," Groves said. "That's what the heck track is all about, the competition. These days too much emphasis is placed on individual records and times, which drags the sport down."

Phil Caraher, Ricardo Hall and Mike Crescenzi, however, didn't come close to dragging their team down.

The Penn State tri-captains each came through and won their events. Caraher crushed in the shot put with a hurl of 61'1¾", threw the discus for a personal best 168'10" and swung the hammer 149'8", another career best.

Hall, won the triple jump with a leap of 49'1¾, but he also had to battle the chilly and windy Annapolis weather. Crescenzi won the 5,000 meters in 14.36.3.

"I was pleased with them," Groves said. "The leadership from them was definite."

Another crucial event was the 800 because prior to that race, the outcome of the meet was still up in the air.

"Coach Groves told us (800 runners) that we needed to score points in the 800," said Joe Stegbauer, winner of the event. "He told me that since Aidan and Doug were doubling back that I would go out hard."

In the race Stegbauer held off a Navy runner to win the event in 1.54.8 in a race that featured a furious finish.

"I led the whole race and than a Navy guy pulled up even with me 50 meters to the finish line," Stegbauer said. "I took him to the finish line and than Aidan followed." O'Reilly clipped the Navy runner to finish second.

In other events Brian Kelly anchored the "neck and neck" 4x400 relay team of Jerry Robinson, Kevin Cripanuk and Mike Adams to victory with his fourth leg time of 48.82. Kelly also won the 400 in 49.7. Antionio Davis nailed the long jump in 22'7", with Hall finishing second and Sam Pennypacker third.

Robinson won the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.5, while Hall finished second in 14.7. Javelin thrower Wes Waninger hit a personal best and IC4A qualifying throw of 198'9". And pole vaulter Mike Alegeri cleared 15'6", despite a slight tailwind.

The one-on-one dual at the U.S. Naval Academy this weekend was the second meet on the Tour of the Great Outdoors. Next week, the Lions will test the Happy Valley weather and host the Jim Thorpe Invitational.