The men's cross country team has been given a clean slate. All of the mistakes and accomplishments of this season are behind it. The only thing that matters now is the road ahead.

After a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, the runners have been gearing up for this event.

"We are really looking forward to districts," junior Jake Bartholomy said after Big Tens. "We can definitely take it up a step."

When the team travels to Morven Park in Leesburg, Va., tomorrow, it will compete in the NCAA Region II race. The Lions will be competing for the two spots in the NCAA Championships against No. 4 Villanova, No. 8 Georgetown, No. 18 West Virginia, No. 19 Cornell and No. 21 William & Mary.

"The object is to try to win the meet," Coach Harry Groves said. "Not just worry about qualifying."

That may be difficult because the combination of the District I and District II qualifiers into one race will add about 280 to 300 runners into the equation.

"That's a lot of bods," Groves said.

Although the districts are scored separately, the other teams will be a factor in the race simply because of the numbers.

"You've got to know what you're doing, you've got to know who your guys are and who your opponents are," Groves said.

If the team doesn't get one of the two spots, it will need an at-large bid to go to NCAA Championships. That is the only time the rest of the season comes into play.

"You're at the mercy of everybody's bias," Groves said.

All season long, the strategy has been to play it safe for Nationals.

All season long, Women's Cross Country Coach Teri Jordan has been securing her position for her trip to Lehigh, not reaching too far and not falling too far behind.

But now the time for strategy is over, and it's do or die with no more chances after this one to make it to the big meet.

So there can be no overlooking the NCAA Regionals at noon tomorrow at George Mason University.

And even though the Lady Lions have solidified their hold on an at-large bid in case they don't finish in the top two, they still need to finish somewhere in the vicinity.

While the sixth ranked Lady Lions travel to Virginia, they will be meeting their highly ranked regional friends second-ranked Villanova and fifth-ranked Georgetown.

With a line-up like that, the Lady Lions know their pack attack must be in full gear.

And one of the most pleasant suprises for Penn State late in the season has been the development of junior Kris Kelly.

Jordan has credited her improvement to the fact that Kelly has perfected her skills and is learning how to get out in front.

"I've been getting out faster and I know that if I can stay with the pack then I don't have to work harder going around people at the end of the race," Kelly said.

Jordan is not sure whether Kelly will run tomorrow due to shin splints which she has been suffering from lately.

"We will make the decision this afternoon," Jordan said.

Villanova gave the men's swim team a reality check last night.

On their home turf, the Wildcats stuck it to Penn State in the 400 yard medley relay, beating out Gene Lupinski, Mike Smith, Kirk Skoglund and Doug Cooper in the first event. Lupinski knows he and his teammates need to improve their speed, but he would have liked to start off stronger.

"I think that was disappointing, but it wasn't so bad because we bounced right back," Lupinski said after his team's defeated Villanova 143-82.

Chip Berry didn't waste any time to get the Nittany Lion's first win when he broke Villanova's pool record with a 9:22.54 time in 1,000 freestyle.

Penn State also got first place wins from freshman Sean Anderson in the 50 and the 100 free, Gilad Chen in the 400 individual medley, Jason Eby in the 200 butterfly, Matt Myers in the 200 backstroke and the 400 free relay team of Lupinski, Eby, Ned Walsh and Skoglund.

Just as impressive was the diving team's performance when Chris Devine, Seth Kane and Ryan Smith went 1-2-3 in the 1 meter diving event. Devine took first place in the 3 meter.