Every meet, every week is a building block toward the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Regionals. This weekend, the Penn State men's track and field team will take another step toward these goals when it competes at the George Mason Patriot Invitational.

"You take each one as they come," Penn State men's track and field coach Harry Groves said. "There are two things that you prepare for. One is the Big Ten Championships and the other is the NCAA Regionals."

There will be about 15 teams competing at the Invitational, which is an open meet.

But the purpose of this meet, like that of the recent Penn Relays, is to give athletes a chance to improve on their individual bests and achieve NCAA regional qualifying marks.

At this point in the season, Penn State has 18 NCAA Regional marks in the first year that it is using this system. Leading the way are junior Chavous Nichols and senior Dan Diaz, who should each be competing in three events at the NCAA Regionals.

Penn State will also be coming into the meet with the fifth fastest time in the nation in the 4-by-800-meter relays.

Groves said that the Lions have been performing "pretty damn good" this season and that he was pleased with the team's performance at the Penn Relays. He also added that the performance at the relays showed how good a track team Penn State is.

To be the best, the Lions know that they cannot let their focus slip as they head into this meet. Even though the invitational will not include as many tough competitors as the Penn State relays, they plan to remain as determined as ever.

"It should be good competition," sophomore Diamond Woolford said. "Everybody is going to stay focused. We know how long the season is."

-- By Nkrumah Makinwa