Twenty-two teams faced, 22 teams defeated.

The Penn State men's track team remained undefeated this weekend as it beat 10 other teams for the top spot at the U.S. Coaches Association Collegiate Invitational.

It is always nice to win, but this meet was a little sweeter than usual because it came against some top-notch Big Ten competition. The team the Nittany Lions edged out for first was Ohio State, one of a few teams that have a legitimate shot at the conference title this season.

The meet did not always look as though it was going to go in favor of the Nittany Lions. Ohio State was winning with the last four events pending, and it seemed that the Buckeyes had the better talent in the remaining events.

"They could have won that meet," coach Harry Groves said. "What you look at is the realism of the situation, and they stacked up better than we did. Our guys just wanted to win more."

The turning point of the meet was most likely the 3,000-meter run. With three events left, Penn State was losing to the Buckeyes by a score of 99.5-96. The Nittany Lions needed someone to step up and they got what they needed when Chris McGinness and Gregg Davis went 1-2 in the 3,000.

"That set it up for us," Groves said. "I told McGinness and Davis that we were going to go off of what they did. They gave us enough of a lead that we didn't need to win the 4x400 relay."

The 4x400-meter relay was the final event. Although the team of Brain Derby, Steve Janci, Duane Reeves and Ben Karcz did not need to do well in the event, they still stepped up. They posted a NCAA provisional qualifying time and broke the Penn State record with a time of 3:10.

There were other events where the Nittany Lions shone. Jim Carney brought home a first-place finish in the 5,000-meter run and Guy Rose also came in first as he won the 60-meter high hurdles.

Carney's finish was Penn State's initial first place and it helped set the tone for the team. While his performance may have been big for the team, he was just happy to be competing with his team.

"It is more of a privilege just to compete," Carney said. "Winning is just a bonus. I enjoy coming to practice and competing with the team."

Rose's victory followed Carney's. Rose not only got the win, but he also broke the Penn State record in the event and improved his provisional qualifying time.

His time of 7.77 seconds broke the old record of 7.82 seconds that he held with Michael Timpson.

"This is all we want, to get as many firsts as we can," Rose said. "Just to get first helps others on the team. Karcz always says I pump him up when I do well."

Next up for the team is the Big Ten Championships. The meet will be held at Penn State's Multi-Sport Complex in two weeks. Coach Groves knows that although his team has tasted success this season, the upcoming meet will be extremely competitive.

"It's going to be a dog fight."