The Big Ten Championship for men's track is just two weeks away and it is on everyone's mind, but the Lions must first do battle against Kent State and Youngstown State.

Penn State travels to Kent State tomorrow to face the underdogs, but the Lions know that they can't be overconfident.

"I'm counting on a highly competitive meet," Coach Harry Groves said. "Kent State is just seething to get at us."

Penn State has had strong finishes all season, as it won the Syracuse Invitational and defeated Michigan, Kentucky and Michigan State in a five-way meet that Ohio State won earlier in the season.

However, Penn State is not going to let its guard down.

"Kent State has a good balanced team, much like our own," Groves said. "They are strong where we are strong and how those events go will determine the outcome of the meet."

Kent State is undefeated in scoring meets in the Mid-American Conference, but it knows that the Lions are a solid team.

"Penn State doesn't look like they have any holes anyplace," said Rob Lasorsa, Kent State's assistant track coach. "The depth that they have in each event will be hard to contend with."

"We're going to have to try and stay with them," he added.

Lasorsa said that he is especially aware of how strong the performances of Penn State's distance runners have been, but he is counting on gaining some points in the throwing events.

"Brian Milne is ahead of the field in the shot put, but we have three guys who can throw over 50 feet," Lasorsa said. "It will be a real dogfight for the second, third and fourth places."

The Kent State University Fieldhouse is a 296-meter track and the Lions intend to take advantage of the size. Last Saturday, Penn State capitalized on Iowa State's oversized track when the 4x800 relay team finished third in the national-class field and the 4x400 relay team finished seventh.

"We'll be running on an oversized track and we're looking to see what we can do while we're getting ready for Big Tens," middle distance runner Todd Kletter said.

"Kent State is gunning to beat us -- they're a major underdog," distance runner Leif Steiner said. "You always have to be wary of the underdog, but we want to really win -- we want to pound them."