This is where the real competition begins.

The Penn State men's track and field team will compete at the USTCA Series Meet at noon tomorrow at the William Weaver Stadium in Princeton, N.J.

The meet will feature four teams, including in-state rivals Villanova and Penn, as well as Princeton. Penn State, Princeton, and Penn are all among the top 25 in the country.

With the season young, Princeton head coach Frank Samara feels that it is still too early to determine whom the better team is. However, Samara considers this the best-scored meet in the East for the outdoor season. Harry Groves, Penn State's head coach, agrees with Samara, citing this weekend's competition as some of the best in the country.

"It's four teams that have track teams instead of abominations," he said. "It's not just sprinters and jumpers. We all cover every event."

Senior captain Dorian Lowe is very excited for this meet, which he feels will be a good opportunity for the Nittany Lions to show what they can do against such top competition.

"This is a meet to showcase who is the best in the East and we certainly feel like we are," he said.

However, Lowe stressed the importance of treating ever meet like it's a building block towards Big Tens.

"Out ultimate goal is to just win the Big Ten Championships," he said.

Groves was unwilling to single out any single event as one to focus on.

"There are just so many events to cover," he said. "You have to be ready to go in just about every event."

The Nittany Lions are coming off tough competition last weekend at the 72nd Annual Texas Relays that saw them make a good showing for themselves. Junior Ryan Blood set a personal best score of 6,923 points in the decathlon to place fourth, only 400 points behind first place. Chavous Nichols' effort in the triple jump was enough to give him the top place in that event.

Groves knew that a meet featuring numerous Southern teams would be tough.

With the nicer weather in the South, the track and field teams have more time to prepare for the outdoor season making them about a month ahead in terms of conditioning. However, Groves refuses to dwell on the past and is excited for this weekend.

"This meet is the kick-off for what we call the competitive season," said Groves.