Lady Lion Holly Jones and a group of her teammates qualified for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships in indoor track, but came up just short of a win on Saturday.

Penn State placed second to Georgetown by a score of 83-80 at the Cornell Invitational.

The Lady Lions may have only lost by three points, but the other competitors were not quite so close. Penn State beat third-place Syracuse by 29 points, fourth-place Cornell by 35 and last-place Colgate by 79.

"It was a great battle between Georgetown and ourselves," said Coach Teri Jordan. "Coming into the last event, there was only one point separating us."

That last event was the mile relay. Despite good times by three Lady Lion freshmen and a sophomore, a more experienced Georgetown team won the race and clinched the Invitational.

Though the meet result was not a victory, several Penn State athletes performed well individually.

Jones won the high jump and placed fourth in the shot put, qualifying for the ECAC Championships in both events. In addition, she just missed national qualification in the high jump, clipping her heels on the bar at 5 feet, 9-and-a-half inches.

"If I were going to give anyone 'athlete of the meet,' it would be her," Jordan said, adding that Jones "led by example" at the meet.

Other first-place finishers qualifying for ECACs included Erin St. John in the mile run and Sue Huelster, Erica Bosler, Jill Kern and Tresa Hohnka in the distance medley relay.

Runners who qualified for ECACs without finishing first in their events were Huelster and Jeannine Rabuck, who placed second and third in 1,000 meters, respectively, and Kris Kelly, who was third in the 5,000. In addition, thrower Kim Hicks qualified with a second place in the shot put.

Hicks said she was not surprised by the number of Lady Lions who qualified for ECACs. In fact, she expected more.

"I wasn't surprised because we worked very hard," she said. "I think it's going to be very soon that more people will qualify. I think everyone needed to get a meet under their belts."

Jordan said Saturday's strong performance came from the team's depth, which helped to offset the absence of 10 key athletes who were recovering from illnesses and injuries.

"To come in second out of the five teams competing was a great credit to our young ladies," she said.