It's often said that "offense wins games, defense wins championships."

But in track and field, there really isn't any defense and what might be defined as "offense" doesn't fit the usual description.

Track and field championship building is a balancing act. A meet can't be won without some superstar scorers. A championship can't be won without depth at every event level.

The USTCA Dual Meet Power Rankings is a gauge that is supposed to determine how teams would match up against each other.

The rankings measure overall team depth using times, point scores and place finishes, and intangible factors in a point system almost as mysterious as the secretive RPI in NCAA basketball.

For the second week in a row, the Penn State women's track team is ranked third nationally with a point index of 284.31. Updated on Sunday, the Nittany Lions sit behind No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 LSU -- some very esteemed company.

Before this season the Lions had never broke into the top 10, finishing last season with a program-best 11th-place ranking last season.

Penn State women's track coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said the team is shooting for a top-five finish this year.

"We're really proud to be in the top five right now," she said. "If we keep up the hard work and just do what we've been doing, I think it's reasonable to say that we'll be there come the end of the season."

If the Lions do finish out the season in the top five, there's some serious hardware involved.

"All the teams in the top five are rewarded with a USTCA Plaque that we can put up in the track," Alford-Sullivan said.

"This is something that is really a great way of inspiring our team. It's highly important to be seen as a program that can do everything. So for us, we're excited. We feel like, 'Hey, we're ranked No. 3 in the nation,' and that puts us in some pretty elite company, and we also understand that we're pretty good too."

The Lions' ranking comes after an incredibly strong showing in last weekend's Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup where they defeated two-time Big Ten champion Michigan here in Happy Valley.

"I think the team has used the ranking as a confirmation of what we are," Alford-Sullivan said.

"We still know that we have to go into the arena and go all out, but this is on paper and it's a good reward for all the hard work."

The No. 3 ranking is just one part of the culmination of everything the women's track program is trying to do at Penn State since Alford-Sullivan took over the program in 1999.

"I think our team is really growing this year," junior distance runner and All-American Molly Landreth said.

"We're becoming closer as a team as different groups intermingle.

"I think that's really important for our team to bond together, to root for each other."

Team unity is something the Lions reflect before, during and after every meet in their trademark call and response: "Who's house?... Our House! We are... Penn State! Go State."

How the team competes on the road at the Big Ten championships will be the final confirmation of how much the team has truly gels and lives up to its high ranking.

Notes: The Nittany Lions were originally scheduled to compete in the Kent State Invitational meet this weekend, but after a coaches meeting yesterday, the staff decided to cancel Penn State's participation.

The week off will give the team extra time to prepare for the Big Ten championships in two weeks and allow for the whole team to get healthy.