The Penn State men's indoor track and field team knows that a lot of track teams want to compete at the Multi-Sports Complex.

On Saturday the Penn State men's indoor track and field team faced off against 32 different teams at the Penn State National Open.

There were no team scores at the Open and the Nittany Lions knew that competing against these teams wouldn't be as challenging as Big Ten competition, but the Lions still knew that they would have to be very focused at this event.

"We were focused in training hard for this weekend," said captain Brian Derby. He also said that the team had had a tough week partly because some team members weren't fully fit.

If the team was hurting, it showed that even when not fully fit, it is still a force.

"Our main focus is the Big Ten competition," senior Dorian Lowe said. "But it doesn't really matter if we are facing the top or bottom team in the country."

The Lions' relay team, consisting of Michael Jordan, Mike Enwright, Gregg Davis and Matt Lincoln, broke the indoor facility record in the 4-by-800 meter relay with a time of 7:30.06.

"We were focused on the three relays," Lions coach Harry Groves said, "and we got a win, which was the facility record."

In the other relays the team had second and third place finishes.

Lowe also showed that as the season progresses, he is improving. For the second week in a row, Lowe got an NCAA provisional mark in the 35-pound weight throw with a toss of 63 feet, 10.5 inches.

Lowe feels that he is still improving and that he always tries to improve on something new each week. His coach said that his hard work and determination have made him one of the best at his event.

"He is a self-made man," Groves said. "That's what the sport is all about. It allows people the freedom and longitude to get busy, work hard and be successful."

The freshmen, who have been consistent all season, further enhanced their value to the team with some good performances at the Open.

Some of the better freshmen performances came from Jaret Campisi and Chris Lolagne, who both finished third in the 400 and 500-meter run, respectively. Matt Lincoln, who also was part of the record-breaking relay team, came second in the 600 meters with a time of 1:29.17.

The freshmen weren't the only good performances the Lions had. Senior Ryan Olkowski, who has been impressive as well as versatile this season, snatched second place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.34.