The size of the event and the teams competing give it a flavor that resembles the Big Ten Championships.
"It's as close as it gets," junior Deshaya Williams said. "It gives us an opportunity to see what the teams have."
The meet is not only as close as it gets to the Championships this season, but as close as it has been for years.
"I have definitely never competed against this many Big Ten schools without being in it," senior Toyin Augustus said.
It may contain many teams from the conference, but those teams are not the only ones the Nittany Lions are looking at. The quality of the total competition is something that the team is looking forward to.
"At this stage we are real fired up to have the quality of the competition in general," coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "It is a well rounded team event."
The fact that Big Ten is represented gives the team a few things to look at. One thing is that individual members of the team get to compete against familiar foes in their events and see how they stack up against them.
"I'm really excited about Ohio State and Indiana," Augustus said. "Both have great competition in the hurdles."
The second thing the conference competition does is it gives the team a chance to see how they stack up in team scoring. This could give them a sense of what they will need to do in the Big Ten Championships.
"It's going to be good physical and mental preparation," Augustus said. "It will give us a good perspective on where we can be."
Whether that is at the top of the pile will begin to be revealed as the season progresses this weekend.
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