On the surface, a weekend like the one the Penn State men's golf team had at the Northern Intercollegiate could appear to be disappointing.

Facing mostly Big Ten schools, the Nittany Lions turned out an 11-over team total of 863 for an eighth-place finish at the prestigious event held at Indiana University Golf Course in Bloomington.

Illinois paced the 16-team field with a nine-under 843. Other notable Big Ten finishes were defending NCAA champions Minnesota in second place with an eight-under 844, the host Hoosiers and Ohio State tied for fifth at eight-over 860, and Wisconsin at 11th with a 22-over 874.

Penn State senior Jim Fuller turned in another spectacular performance for the Lions. Fuller shot an eight-under 205 in the three-round event to finish in second place behind James Lepp of Illinois. Lepp bettered Fuller by three shots to garner the tournament championship.

"It is satisfying to see positive things come out of my hard work," Fuller said. "I knew I could play with those guys."

It couldn't be quite as satisfying for the rest of the Lions, as they didn't fare nearly as well. Sophomore Andrew Price was the next-highest finisher tied for 36th with a six-over 219. Junior Ted Neville shot an eight-over 221, good for a tie for 47th, and sophomores Mark Leon and Greg Pieczynski finished in 56th and 60th place, respectively.

Though the low finishes had something to do with the Lions themselves, a good deal had to do with the tough competition. Factoring in Fuller's performance, the top 12 individual rounds that counted for the team score averaged 71.9 strokes. Without Fuller, the average round increased slightly to 73.75, or less than three shots above par.

Penn State men's golf coach Greg Nye pointed to that fact, and said it pointed much more to the other team's excellence rather than a failure for the Lions.

"It's pretty impressive," Nye said, noting that the highest score was Piecyzinski's 10-over 223. "I think if you look more at the counting scores you see how tough the field was. It was a quality course as well, and that's something to look at."

Before leaving Happy Valley for the Intercollegiate, there was much talk about how confident the Lions felt coming off a huge win at James Madison. Despite the weekend's somewhat disappointing finish, the Lions claim that they remain unshaken.

"Same. It's the same," Nye said, regarding his team's confidence. "The guys will be fine. I feel like they didn't play poorly but just not as spectacularly like previous."

With many top teams there and a decent showing, Fuller said he believes the team now knows what they must contend with come spring. The Big Ten Championship will be held at the same course against many of the same teams in May.

"It was a wake-up call ... this is what we got to deal with," Fuller said. "It was just a kind of an awakening for us."