No track athlete would want to move from practicing in the comforts of an indoor stadium to begin battling blustery, bitter cold in the 400-meters while avoiding patches of ice and snow.

The weather in central Pennsylvania, however, cooperated for the most part in Saturday's 35th annual Jim Thorpe Meet. After some morning clouds, the weather was sunny and the temperature topped out at 70 degrees.

"We couldn't have asked for a better meet," Penn State men's track and field coach Harry Groves, who is in his 36th year at Penn State, said. "The only thing was that the winds shifted from southwest to northeast, and that affected our jumps and vaults a little bit."

This weekend marked the transition for the team as it moved outdoors and was primarily a meet to assess the development of the players and to get them in shape.

The Nittany Lions participated along with Bucknell, Lehigh, Long Island University, Robert Morris and St. Francis.

"The transition was smooth, the weather was nice and everything came together," sprinter Ernie Terrell said.

Terrell placed first in the 400-meters (48.46) as he did last year at the Jim Thorpe Meet (47.19) and was on the winning 4 x 100-meter relay team along with Alex Langan, Diamond Woolford and Jaret Campisi.

Wheelchair athlete Jeff Hantz had an Olympic qualifying mark in the javelin when he finished with a throw of 82 feet, 7 inches.

"I knew it was a good throw." Hantz said. "You kind of know from practice from throwing over and over."

Hantz said little changes during the transition into the outdoor season.

"Wednesday was the first nice day out," Hantz said. "Lifting and training stays the same, but we have to get ready for the outdoor element."

Junior Tim Walker and senior Chavous Nichols each won two individual events. Walker won both the 800-meters (1:56.35) and 1,500-meters (4:00.45). Nichols won the long jump (23-feet-11) and triple jump (50-feet-3 1/4 inches). Sophomore Dane Miller won the shot put (56-feet-2 1/2 inches), freshman Ron Jules won the 100-meter hurdles (15.33), and the team of Kwame Floyd, Alex Langan, Michael O'Donnell, Caleb Hood won the 4 x 400 relay (3:20.96).

"We didn't stack the players a lot in the events, but put them in appropriate places for this time of year because we have two months of training and competing ahead," Groves said.