The men's indoor track team hoped to use the Middle Tennessee Invitational as a spring board into the NCAA Championships. Highlighted by several Penn State wins, as well as a tied school record, the meet launched two athletes into the NCAAs and set the stage for five Penn State athletes to become All-Americans.

The Nittany Lions traveled to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to compete in the Middle Tennessee Invitational in hopes of sending more athletes to the NCAA Championships. Despite several first-place wins, the Lions only qualified in two events, and with the distance medley relay team, sent five athletes to the national championships.

"We got five there," Coach Harry Groves said. "You've got to be satisfied with what you got."

The meet was highlighted by the two athletes who set qualifying times. Antonio Davis won the long jump, and then went on to tie a Penn State record of 54-4 in the triple jump, a mark set by Ricardo Hall in 1990. The jump was a provisional qualifier, and landed Davis in the NCAA Championships. Bob Hamer also ran a fast enough mile to move him into a qualifying position.

Hamer, however, passed up the mile race to anchor the team of R.B. Caldwell, James Robbins and Phil Mellott in a close distance medley relay.

Caldwell broke out in the first leg to a fourth-place position on a track crowded with nine other teams. James Robbins took the baton but lost some ground running on an injured foot that had caused him to drop out of the 400-meter a week earlier. Mellott and Hamer tried to make up the difference, but were unable to catch up to leading Arkansas, and finished in sixth place.

"We ran all and all a very good race, but not everyone ran as fast as they had," Robbins said.

Added Groves: "It was highly competitive all the way through, but Arkansas was able to bust it open."

Davis had some problems of his own. He followed up the previous weekend's record performance with several strong jumps, but the fouls which have plagued him all season returned to disqualify his good jumps and ultimately land him in ninth place by a top jump of 51-1 .

"We were close in both events, but just couldn't quite nail it down," Groves said.

All five athletes' performances earned them All-American status, and Penn State will move into the outdoor season ranked by the NCAA Coaches Association as the No. 11 indoor dual-meet team in the nation.

"It will be a stimulus to work hard in the outdoor season and make it to the big show again," Robbins said.