The theme of this season for the Penn State women's indoor track team has been coming together as a team.

Saturday and Sunday in West Lafayette, Ind., the team took that theme to heart as it tied for sixth in the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Nittany Lions finished with 61 points, the same as Wisconsin. Purdue took first place. The home team totaled 108 points for the championships, 11 more than second-place Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions improved on last season's indoor season, in which they finished eighth in the conference. Coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said that it was a good meet for her team.

"We had an excellent day of our own," Alford-Sullivan said. "The team really stepped up."

The fact that the team improved from last season was apparent in the points they took. They picked up 40 more points than they did last season, something that had an impact on the meet as a whole.

"We had people in 10 out of 12 events," Alford-Sullivan said. "It was fun to be a team that made an impact."

Many Nittany Lions had a personal impact with some strong finishes. Second-place finishes were taken by Susanne Heyer in the 1-mile run and Jen Aylward in the high jump.

Also competing at a high level was Toyin Augustus who took a fourth in the 60-meter hurdles. In the shot put, the tandem of Deshaya Williams and Ja'nai O'Connor both posted personal bests and scored for the team. In addition, Laila Brock placed sixth in the 400-meter dash and Connie Moore came in third in the 200-meter dash.

Heyer's performance was aided by the two weeks the team had to prepare for the meet.

"Physically, I wasn't feeling good and I just had to get freshened up," Heyer said. "I started feeling better Tuesday and it just carried over."

Heyer also said that she feels the team was initially a little disappointed with not finishing higher, but knew that it really did a tremendous job.

That job was brought about in large part by being a team throughout the season and in this meet. Members of the team have been making sacrifices to make the team better overall and score higher.

"To become a championship team you have to spread yourself thin," junior Jessica Kern said. "We have people in two or three different events. Everyone knows their role on the team."

Alford-Sullivan said that selflessness and team unity has already gone a long way in improving the team and should only continue in the future.

"This was a big step towards where we want to be."