After last year's ninth-place finish in the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Penn State men's team entered this year's competition with something to prove.

They exited with the team's best finish ever in the event.

Against several of the nation's best track and field squads, Penn State pushed themselves to a fifth place finish out of the ten competing squads. The placement bested the previous Penn State top finish of sixth place in 1993.

Big Ten defending champion Wisconsin once again ran away from the competition with 114 team points, followed by Purdue with 94 and Ohio State with 86. Penn State finished with 68 points.

"The Big Ten is a great track conference with great competition," Penn State men's track coach Harry Groves said. "One mistake here can easily cost you five places in the standings. "

As a credit to Grove's statements, several conference athletes obliterated previous records during Sunday's finals. Michigan State hepthathlete Paul Terek shattered the American indoor pole vault record for the heptathlon with an impressive vault of 17 feet, 8.5 inches.

Also outstanding was Ohio State's Andrew Pierce, who won Athlete of the Championship honors.

Pierce destroyed facility marks in both the 200 and 400-meter dash.

Individual point winners for the Lions included sophomore Guy Rose's second place in the 60-meter high hurdles, senior Ben Karcz's second place in the 600-meter dash, and senior Steven Walsh's third place in the mile run.

Ryan Olkowski also fared well, finishing third in the high jump.

These personal efforts, along with others, were only part of the reason for the Lions' considerable improvement from last year's championship.

Another major factor was the unification and development of the team in preparation for the event.

"The biggest thing that changed was with the team," long and triple jumper Chavous Nichols said. "We had a really good team bond and we came together."

Nichols finished third in both of his events.

Walsh and fellow distance runner Bradd DelMuto used the team unity to help push each other in preparation.

"We always work together," Walsh said. "If I'm doing well, he thinks he has to do well, and if he's doing well then I think I have to do well."

Groves said that he was pleased with his team's placement, although he wished they placed higher.

He said that any time a team finishes in the top five in the Big Ten, that team can pride itself on a good season. It was the maturation of his athletes that made it a good season for the Lions.

"We had a year of development with a lot of the same guys," Groves said. "We had experience right down the line, which was the vast difference for us."