Friday and Saturday saw an exhibition of both great athletic ability and a facility that is like no other in the world.

The Penn State men's indoor track team hosted the National Open this weekend. The large event was held in Penn State's 2-year old Multi-Sport Complex. Fifty-seven teams were represented in the meet, with a total of 696 men signed up to participate.

During the event a barrage of outstanding marks were set by the competitors.

When it was all over, 22 NCAA provisional marks were made. New records were also set, as six athletes surpassed facility records and one Penn State team record was tied.

The Penn State record time came in the 60-meter high hurdles and was set by Guy Rose. Rose's time of 7.82 seconds was also good enough to give him a NCAA provisional qualifying time. He tied the record set by Michael Timpson in 1986.

"I didn't know what to expect," Rose said of the competition. "I just came in focused."

Rose also said that his time gives him confidence as he continues to run this season.

Rose was not the only Nittany Lion to provisionally qualify. Junior Ryan Olkowski qualified in the high jump with a height of 7 feet, 1 inch.

The team turned in other excellent performances as well. The 4X400-meter relay team placed third, junior Dorian Lowe threw his way to a third-place finish in the 35-pound weight throw, sophomore Ryan Blood scored 3746 points to win the pentathlon and senior Steve Walsh placed second in a field of 41 runners in the mile run.

"It felt good," Walsh said. "I wish we would have went out a little faster, but it felt good."

The athletes' achievements were helped by what many consider to be one of the best indoor tracks in the world. Coach Harry Groves said that the track is one of only three in the world with a hydraulic lift, and those tracks have a radius of 55-foot radius.

This track has a 65-foot radius.

"The track is unbelievable," Walsh said. "Because of it more and more people want to come here to compete."

Walsh was not the only one with kind words for the facility. Groves said that this event was a success and that the coaches of the other teams were happy to have been able to compete in such a great facility.

"It got a lot of good compliments on everything," Groves said. "Nobody is walking out dissatisfied."

One of the coaches who complimented the facility was Army assistant coach Scott Richardson.

"Great meet," Richardson said. "It's nice to be on the best track in the country."

Princeton and Connecticut will be the next to compete in the Multi-Sport Complex with Penn State in a team scored meet, on Saturday. The team will look to use its success this weekend to give them an edge.

"We want to use it as a jumping-jack to what we have coming up," Groves said. "Princeton-UConn is a cliffhanger every time we run it."