The Penn State women's indoor track team came out with flying colors in one of the most competitive meets they will enter this season.

The team hosted 591 women from around the country in the National Open over the weekend. Fifty-six colleges and universities were represented.

The competition was so good that in four respective events, three or more women set NCAA provisional qualifying marks.

There were other indicators of the caliber of the competition. Three women set marks that were good enough for automatic NCAA berths. In the pole vault, a staggering 20 women tied or surpassed Marta Pepe's Penn State team record of 10 feet, 6 inches.

In the face of the fierce competition the Nittany Lions left the event with many impressive showings.

First-place finishes were obtained by freshman Connie Moore in the 60-meter dash and junior Deshaya Williams in the shot put. Second-place finishes were handed in by Toyin Augustus in the 60-meter dash and Moore in the 200-meter dash, her time good enough for a NCAA provisional qualifier.

The Nittany Lions made other notable finishes. Sara Dougherty and Biz Curran tied Pepe's team record in the pole vault, and Jen Aylward continued to improve in the high jump. She set a provisional NCAA mark on her way to a third-place finish.

Laila Brock finished fourth out of 49 participants in the 400-meter dash, and third-place finishes were taken by Williams in the 20-pound weight throw and Augustus in the 60-meter hurdles.

Augustus' time in the hurdles tied her Penn State record, but the big surprise came in the 60-meter dash. Augustus finished with a time of 7.42 seconds in the preliminaries, good enough for a provisional qualifying time.

"I wasn't expecting it," Augustus said. "I went into the 60-meter dash and was warmed up from the hurdles."

The competition may have had something to do with the number of great marks set at the meet.

"It took the best quality in our team to make those final heats," coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "When we do team scored meets there is not always such high competition."

Williams also saw the affect the competition had on the results the athletes turned in.

"Everyone gave a good performance," Williams said. "It helped me do the best I could. It really caused us to step up our game."

The quality performances that the team turned in gave the Nittany Lions enthusiasm and confidence that it will take into the rest of the season.

"As always I'm psyched," said Augustus. "I would just like to continue to improve and always try to win."

Williams also seemed eager to improve on this weekend's performance.

"We have confidence to do better," Williams said. "We have to continue with it."

The team's next objective is to have a successful trip east next weekend.

Friday they will visit New York City for the Millrose Games, and Saturday they pull into Princeton, N.J. The team does not expect to rest on its laurels coming off of its success this weekend.

"We can see that we are able to capitalize on different types of competition," Alford-Sullivan said. "We are very driven for higher success."