The 110th incarnation of the Penn Relays, the oldest, biggest and greatest relay carnival in the world, kicks off today with its usual pomp and circumstance. Not the actual song of graduation procession fame -- the meet usually begins with the obligatory National Anthem -- but parading, hoopla and such.

Yesterday, the Penn State women's track team hopped on to the bus after classes and headed down to Philadelphia. Penn State women's track and field coach Beth Alford-Sullivan is taking a full squad of 34 athletes to the event.

"The Penn Relays are just a blast, man," assistant coach Jeff McAuley said. "It's like a zoo down there. People are just all over the place. It's hard to get space to warm-up cause there isn't any room, reporters nagging. There just ain't nothing like it."

Franklin Field usually consistently draws crowds in the neighborhood of 20,000 people on Thursday and Friday competition, then brings in capacity crowds of 50,000 on Saturday.

The shock of the size of the Penn Relays is a concern to some athletes, but for the Big Ten Indoor Champion Nittany Lions, it's just another day at the office.

"The team is always very focused going into a big competition like this because of all the external factors going on," Alford-Sullivan said. "When you get focused -- in that zone -- then you can start feeding off the energy of the crowd."

Connie Moore is one of those athletes who loves to compete on a big stage like the Penn Relays. Moore will compete in the 100-meters on Saturday, and will definitely have her work cut out for her. The event field includes Muna Lee, the LSU sprinter who has become an institution at the Penn Relays by winning the event the last three years, and Lauryn Williams, the Miami speed queen, who clocked the fastest time in the world this year.

Moore isn't worried though. After all, she did just beat reigning Olympic champion Marion Jones.

Other Lions bound to make a splash beside the Schuylkill River include Chi Chi Aduba in the long jump, Ja'Nai O'Connor and Lexi Benamati in the shot put, and Molly Landreth in the 3,000- and 5,000-meters.

Also, the 4x100, 500-meter relay squad is shooting to break the 15-year-old Penn State record in the relay.

That relay squad was close to breaking the mark last weekend at the Mt. SAC Relays in California.

It is shooting for a drop in time against the talented field that the Penn Relays draws.

Last year at the Relays, the Penn State throwers and distance runners performed well, with O'Connor and Benamati finishing first and second in the shot put.

Landreth took fourth place in the 10,000-meters.

The Lions should do well enough to continue to build on last year's success at the meet and come home with some new Penn Relays hardware.