Depth has been key in the last two victories for the men's track and field team. Now it may be the one thing missing in this weekend's tournament.

Penn State will compete in the Big Ten Championships beginning at 9 a.m. today in Ann Arbor, Mich. It will be the Lions' most difficult competition of the year. Especially because they are forced to take only their best athletes, and can't rely on their fourth- and fifth-place point scorers.

"When you line up in the Big Ten, it's a match unto itself," Coach Harry Groves said. "There's no such thing as a bad team in the Big Ten."

It may even be safe to say that the best teams are in it. If so, those would include Ohio State, which has won the last three championships, and Michigan, which defeated both Penn State and Michigan State in an early season tri-meet. But the Lions still hope to move up from last year's sixth-place finish.

"We're a lot stronger this year," distance runner Mark Wimmer said. "I think definitely we can put ourselves in the top three."

If it were any other meet, the Lions would look to their depth to pull them through. But in this meet, the team's mainstays will have to excel to win.

"You've got to have some depth in just having people in every event," Groves said. "It's got to be higher quality."

That isn't to say Penn State doesn't have this quality. Over the course of the season, the team has shown dominance in several events, such as the distance medley relay. Groves' squad set a qualifying time three weeks ago.

"The guys are ready, I'm ready, so we'll just have to go in there and win it," said James Robbins, who runs the 400-meter leg.

The relay isn't Penn State's only event. Wimmer clocked this year's best time in the 5,000-meter, and Bob Hamer, who has been on fire the last few weeks, will run in both the mile and the 3,000-meter. Hamer could find trouble in Michigan's Scott MacDonald, who is the defending mile champ, and freshman teammate Kevin Sullivan, who many consider to be the conference's best distancer.

"The mile is going to be loaded," Hamer said. "It'll give me some good competition to run against."

The distance runs are not Penn State's only strengths. Antonio Davis is the 1992 triple jump winner and a solid long-jumper; Justin Williams has been a consistently swift sprinter and Brian Kelley is the defending pentathlon champion.

The only events unrepresented by Penn State are the throws, due to the absence of Brian Milne who is out because of personal problems.

No matter the individual results, the meet will be decided by the team's performance. As Robbins said, "We're going to go in as a team, score as a team, and win as a team."