It was a busy weekend for the Penn State women's outdoor track team, which competed in three different meets 3,000 miles apart. Half of the team traveled to California for the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational and the Mt. Sac Relays, bringing home multiple first-place finishes and over a dozen NCAA regional qualifying times. The other half of the team competed in the Nittany Lion Relays and took first in 13 out of 18 events.

"We did great," Penn State track and field assistant coach Jeff McAuley said. "We were very solid and had some breakthrough performances."

At the Pamona-Pitzer Invitational, the 4-by-100-meter relay team grabbed first place honors with a time of 45.80, which also earned it an invitation to compete at the NCAA Regionals.

The Penn State throwers had stellar performances across the board. The Nittany Lions took first and second in the javelin with All-America senior Brianne Johnson coming in first and sophomore Ashley Colley taking second. Overall at the Invitational, seven Lions qualified for NCAA Regionals, with junior Lexi Benamati qualifying twice -- once in the shot put with a toss of 45-9 Ã~, and again in the discus with a throw of 155-10. These marks earned Benamati 11th and eighth place, respectively. Senior Deshaya Williams earned second-place in the discus.

At the Mt. Sac Relays, the same 4-by-100-meter relay team had continued success and almost the school record with a time of 45.39. The group was made up of freshman Sara Shoaff, juniors Chi-Chi Aduba and Connie Moore, and senior Laurie Fox. Aduba took second in the long jump while competing against a former Olympic athlete and world team member.

"She was very competitive," McAuley said of Aduba. "She's moving in the right direction."

The relays gave the athletes some tougher competition like Louisiana State University, Indiana and other difficult rivals. However, the atmosphere of the meet was more paced and gave the team time to warm up and get ready to race, which attributed to the solid showings of the Nittany Lions.

"It's a big-time meet," McAuley said. " We showed up and ran well."

The Lions that ran in the Nittany Lion Relays were primarily distance runners, but the team also had a few sprinters, jumpers and throwers turn in some solid performances. The Lions dominated visiting schools Richmond and Juniata, winning a majority of the events they had entrants in. Some of the more notable marks of the weekend included junior Lindsey McDonnell winning the pole vault with a mark of 12-00 and junior Cherese Sullivan winning both the 100- and 200-meter dashes with times of 12.26 and 24.82, respectively. McDonnell's vault was good for an NCAA regional qualifying mark.

"We looked great this weekend," Penn State women's track and field coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "We're very excited for the Penn Relays [next week]."

Most encouragingly, the Nittany Lion Relays showcased some of the team's depth. Eleven different athletes were responsible for the 12 individual championships the team won. Among the others to earn top finishes were senior Lizzie Gati in the 800-meter run, senior Robbin Shomper in the hammer throw, freshman Amanda Copperthite in the 400-meter dash and sophomore Kristen Eash in the javelin.

The Lions compete next weekend in the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania -- one of the largest-scale meets of the season.