Even with almost no competition, the Nittany Lion Invitational turned out to be a worthwhile event for the men's track team Saturday.

The open meet was nearly an intrasquad competition for the Lions, except for some unattached athletes and some East Stroudsburg and Lock Haven standouts. A combination of the cold weather and the less-than-stellar facilities at the Greenberg Indoor Sports Complex kept competitors away and gave the Lions domination of almost every event.

"All the veterans came out and ran pretty relaxed and I felt that that was kind of what we were looking for," field captain Antonio Davis said.

The meet gave the competitors a chance to see where they stood in the early season, and, for Penn State, it offered a proving ground to prepare for next week's Big Ten quad meet against Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State in East Lansing, Mich.

"What it does for the top guys, it shows that their work's paying off; whereas for the people that didn't measure up this time, they just gotta get going," Coach Harry Groves said.

The meet was highlighted by Davis' winning the triple jump by over four feet and his first-ever win in the 55-meter dash.

"It was my debut as a sprinter so I ran the 55 dash pretty seriously," Davis said."As far as jumping goes, I just wanted to come out and loosen up because next week we have a Big Ten tri-meet."

The Lions were also strong in the running events with consistent performances by Mark Crawford, James Robbins and Brian Kelley, but were surprised by unattached runner Damon Reed, who won the 200-meter run and 55-meter high hurdles.

The meet succeeded in giving Groves a look at what he has, and what he has to work on for next week.

"The quality is there, now we need to add the depth," Groves said.