In the world of Big Ten women's swimming, it comes down to a five-team battle for supremacy.

The No. 18 Penn State women's swimming team will face two of those teams this weekend and the other two, Minnesota and Indiana, will have to wait their turn.

"In the Big Ten I feel like there are at least five teams that have a chance at winning it and Michigan and Northwestern are at the top of that list," coach Bill Dorenkott said.

Today they head to Ann Arbor, Mich., to face the No. 17 Wolverines at the Canham Natatorium. The team will then head to Northwestern for a 1 p.m. meet Saturday against the No. 16 Wildcats.

Dornekott said he feels that the rugged traveling will only make the team stronger.

"We put the schedule together with the idea that it would be tough to swim against two of the top teams back-to-back," he said.

Senior Piper Chamberlin agrees with her coach.

"Any traveling you do will affect the way you swim but I think it shows how tough you are," she said. "It will also help us prepare for three-day meets like the Big Ten championships."

The Nittany Lions, who finished second behind Michigan in last year's Big Ten championships, know they are in for a battle today but are confident they will come away with the victory.

"They have a lot of good swimmers but so do we. We also have a lot of depth," sophomore Corrie Clark said.

Penn State has the lowest ranking out of the three teams this weekend but feel like they are the team that everybody is gunning for.

"It's going to be a five-way dog fight, it's going to be tough and obviously we are the one that everybody is going after," said Clark

Dorenkott said he tries to make sure his swimmers don't worry about rankings too much.

"I don't really look at the rankings a whole lot. I just know when you get two of the best teams together you can expect a battle," Dorenkott said.

Clark says she is aware of some of the top swimmers on Northwestern and will be prepared to come out strong.

"They have an Olympian in Erica Rose, who's pretty tough and they have good swimmers all around," she said.

Over the past few weeks Dorenkott has switched his focus from volume to intensity and feels like his team has responded well.

They are also focusing on hitting paces as well as the more detailed things such as starts, turns and finishes.

Chamberlin ultimately hopes to gain a little perspective following this weekend.

"It will show us where we're at and who we need to be looking out for," she said. "This is the part of the year where we fine tune our races, have fun and let loose to see what our bodies can do."