The golf clubs were silent this past Saturday, but the Blue and White Golf Course was rocking.

The beat from hundreds of footsteps set the rhythm for the day. Horns, trumpets and other instruments being played by members of the Penn State Blue Band gave the large crowd a football-like atmosphere. The crowd applauded with excitement more than once during the day.

Under a bright blue sky, Penn State put on a show for the 19 collegiate and 50 high school teams in attendance for the Spiked Shoe Invitational.

"I was pleased with the overall presentation." said Penn State athletic director Tim Curley. "There was a lot of passion here today."

A ripple of applause began to build as the orange and black uniform of Jason Woolhouse, of No. 29 Oklahoma State, came into the final turn of the five-mile race.

"I like the fact it was point-to-point, a real cross-country race ... the mixed up terrain, it was fun," Woolhouse said.

Woolhouse's time of 25:36.47 was 41 seconds faster than Derek Tate, his teammate, who finished second. Oklahoma State won the race with five runners placing in the top nine.

Penn State finished in second place. Dan Mazzocco was the first Nittany Lion to cross the line with a time of 26:35.33 Josh Loren, Dorian McDonald, Joel Moceri, Chris Foster and Scott Munro also finished in the top 50.

Mazzocco said he was happy with the race, but it was tough coming in the last hill.

"There were more people than I expected to see," Mazzocco said from inside a huddle of runners after-the race. "I've never seen so many people at a cross country meet. It was great hearing 'Go State' and 'Go PSU.' "

Many spectators watched the race from an area of the course called the chute. The chute is where officials record times and hand out numbers to competitors.

Waiting for the first runners to come across the line were two members of the women's track and field team, Brooke Robinson and Deshaya Williams. They were discussing the atmosphere of the Invitational.

"It's been exciting to watch," Robinson said. "We cheered along with the Blue Band."

Behind Robinson and Williams was a tent that provided shade and liquids for the athletes. The tent also housed 30 athletic training students, said Chevonne Brown, one of those students.

"There is a crew on water and a crew traveling around making sure no one gets hurt," Brown said.

Brown said the trainers also work to make sure all of the runners are hydrated.

When throngs of runners are crammed into the small area-of roped-off space in the chute, the scene can get pretty hectic. The talking and yelling of coaches and parents congratulating runners on finishing their race can sound like the chaos of a pre-game crowd at Beaver Stadium.

Josh Loren had just gotten out of the chute as the congestion began to build up.

While other runners were trying to spit out saliva that just wasn't in their mouths as they tried to escape the roped-in herd, Loren was in the shade of a pine tree.

He was bent over at the waist as his mother splashed water off the sweat on the back of his neck. George and Janet Loren have been making the trip to State College from Waterford for the past seven years.

"I think it's great," Janet said of the race. "The band was wonderful."

The Blue Band played the Alma Mater and "Floating Lion."