The Penn State Men's indoor track and field team start their season at home, in the Multi-Sports Complex with the US Coaches Series event at 11.00 a.m. on Saturday.
There is a lot of pressure on this year's team to follow in the successes of last year team. The current team hopes that they will start with a bang like last year's team that had 10 Champions in their opening meet, the West Virginia Invitational.
Last year's team also had a first place finish in a meet at the complex beating the University of Pennsylvania, Villanova, Washington University and LaSalle.
Another high-point of last season was the team's second-place finish behind the University of Connecticut and ahead of Princeton at the Penn State, Princeton, University of Connecticut Triangular, also at the complex.
Head Coach Harry Groves, who was inducted into the United States Track Coaches association's Hall of Fame last year, called this year's team as balanced as the one he had last year.
"We have about the same balance as last year," he said, "and we had an extremely balanced team last year.
Making this season more challenging is the fact that the Big Ten is one of the best conferences in the Nation for track events.
"If you come out in the top 10 of the Big Ten, then you can count yourself to be among the best 20 in the nation," he said. "The Big Ten is one of the best conferences in the country."
The roster includes such notables as NCAA All-Americans Brian Derby, Guy Rose, junior sprinter Ryan Olkowski and sophomore Kevin Dare.
Commenting on the performances of Derby and Rose, Coach Groves said: "They had a good year last year. Like an old newspaper, they just have to go out and do it again this year."
Dare, a pole-vaulter, was the U.S. Junior Championship holder last year. This meant that he automatically qualified for the Junior Pan-American Championships in Sante Fe, Argentina. He finished fifth in the event.
After a successful 2001, the team expects to have the same consistent performances from Derby, Rose and the others so that they can at least be able to accomplish what they did last season.
