It was the first outdoor meet of the season for the women's track team, but the performances resembled mid-season results.

At the Raleigh Relay in North Carolina, the Lady Lions dominated the throwing events and made a nice showing in the distance competitions. Meanwhile, at Stanford, Shelley Mitchell competed in the Big Ten vs. Pac 10 invitational meet and made her presence known.

Powered by senior Kim Kessel's double win in Raleigh, Coach Teri Jordan's throwing troops captured first place in the javelin, shot put and discus. Kessel led the discus field with a spin of 150-2 and won the shot put with a 45-2 toss. The top three javelin placers belonged to Penn State.

In addition to finishing first and second in the javelin, Dayna Holston (162) and Stacy Gibbs (154-3) each recorded NCAA provisional qualifying distances in the event. Jen Crouch placed third. This type of throwing prowess could be the element which improves the Lady Lions' position in the Big Ten.

"We had a lot of good performances on the day," said Ana DeRenzi, who placed second in the 3,000 meters with a season-best 10 minutes, 16.21 seconds. "As a whole the team performed well."

This was true, as it was not only the throwers who managed to excel on the afternoon. The 4x200 meter relay team of Jacky Brown, Alicia Porro, Holly Jones and Jill Mallon finished second in 1:44.1 while the 4x800 relay team of Laurie Morrow, Dawn Eidson, Mary Beth Powers and Amy Kopf also finished second with a 18:1.6 clocking.

Morrow alo competed in the 1,500 and placed third with a 4:34.61 time. Marginally pleased with the time, Morrow was glad to just run outside.

"It's always great to get on the bigger track," said Morrow, the captain of the distance runners. "It was difficult practicing outside, then inside because of the weather and then going back out, but we are definitly a stronger team outdoors."

Sprinter Jacky Brown dashed a 26.1 in the 200 meters for the fourth place finish, but her most impressive run of the day was in the preliminary round for the 100 meters. Her time was a trim 11.5 seconds.

On Friday Kim Kelly placed fifth in the 10,000 meters in 35:25.27 with her sister Kris right behind her in sixth (35:25.38).

The Lady Lions had to compete against many East Coast teams who have not been forced by Mother Nature back indoors for practices. This element makes their performance even more impressive.

"Most of the schools we competed against don't even have indoor seasons," said DeRenzi. "They had a little edge on us but it just shows were able to overcome shortcomings."

While the Lady Lions made their debut outdoors, Mitchell found herself on the West Coast in Stanford. Representing the Big Ten, Mitchell placed second in the 400 meter hurdles (59.95) and fourth in the 100 hurldes (14.55). In the high jump her leap of 5-7 landed her seventh. Mitchell also competed on two relay teams which defeated their Pac 10 foes.

The Lady Lions will be in Philadelphia next Sunday for the Quaker Invitational.