This weekend's St. Valentine's Invitational meet at Boston University left a sweet taste in the mouth of the women's track team.

Registering six first-place finishes and 12 personal best performances, the Lady Lions' tough competition from previous weeks prepared them to rule the 16-team field in Boston.

"It was a very productive weekend," Coach Teri Jordan said. "There was plenty of progress and personal bests. We faced some good competition, but we were just domineering in certain events."

Shelley Mitchell found herself with another double-win performance, sweeping both the 55 hurdles (8.23 seconds) and the quarter mile (57.68). The senior also added a fifth-place finish in the long jump.

Jacky Brown, who has consistently been clocking impressive times in the sprinting events, continued to blaze by opponents in the 55 meters. Brown clocked a 7.27 for first place, but actually she could have done better.

Figuring the race would be run in the standard format of a trial heat followed by a final, Brown paced herself in the first race in order to be fresh for the finals. Unfortunately for Brown, there was only one heat and she finished the race with energy to spare.

"I ran to qualify for the finals, so I could have lowered my time," explained Brown. "But I felt great after I ran the race. It was probably the most relaxed I have been after a race."

Brown also registered a season best time of 25.32 in the 200 meters, good for a second-place finish. At the upcoming George Mason meet, Brown will look to improve her time in the event against quality 200 meter runners she will compete against.

The mile relay team, despite a change of personnel, placed first with a decent time of 4:00.29. The team utilized the usual leadoff with Brown off the blocks and the anchor leg of Mary Beth Powers, with Dawn Eidson and Teresa Gonzalez running the middle legs. The race was run with the emphasis on building strength rather than posting a great time, Jordan said.

Penn State controlled the high jump competition, grabbing four of the top five places. Holly Jones soared 5-6 for first place while Liz Fredgren came in third, followed by Danielle Gilliat in fourth, and Sandra Bosnar in fifth. The trio each jumped 5-4, but the placing was based on misses at lower heights.

In the seeded section of the 3,000 meters Kim Kelly (9:48.40) and Jenny Weaver (9:50.41) each paced the race in personal best times. Laurie Morrow cruised to third place in the mile with a 4:59.25 while in the seeded section of the 800 meters Powers (2:16.20) finished third and Dawn Eidson placed fourth in 2:17.60. Jordan also noted the improved times of Amy Kopf (2:18.89) and Jeannine Rabuck (2:18.90). Kopf finished second in the open division of the 800 meters.

Kim Kessel hurled the shot put 45-1 to achieve a personal best distance as well as second place. Triplejumper Alicia Porro grabbed first place with a combined jump of 38-5.

"There were a lot of good performaces all the way through," Jordan said after mulling over the Lady Lion results. "We are gaining more confidence which we will need to go to the next step. In the technical areas of the events we are improving and the runners just keep getting faster."

George Mason is the next stop for the Lady Lions before the Big Ten Championship on Feb. 28 in Columbus Ohio. It is customary to take things one meet at a time, but with the Big Ten meet looming, the George Mason meet will serve as a preparation session for the Lady Lions.

"We are looking ahead to the Big Ten, but we will use George Mason as one more good competition to tune-up for the Big Ten," Jordan said.

Jordan plans to work her contingent hard this week in practice and then ease up the week prior to the Big Ten meet.

"We are looking forward to showing the Big Ten we can compete with them," touted Brown. And Jordan is prepared to make sure her team accomplishes the feat.