Most students arrived back in State College over the past couple of days, fresh off four weeks of rest and relaxation at home or on vacation.

The Penn State men's swimming and diving team was no exception, except that the team spent the last two of those weeks training a minimum of five hours per day during its yearly training camp in Naples, Fla.

The Nittany Lions (3-1) left for Naples the day after Christmas and arrived back in Happy Valley Sunday morning.

The team had two practices on New Years Eve, the last ending around 6 p.m., before getting its one and only day off on Jan. 1. Although 2005 started with a day off, it is not reflective of the year-round training the Lions go through in order to keep in shape.

"Our kids train 48 out of 52 weeks a year so the average student will go home for the holiday break for three of four weeks -- our kids will get about four or five days off," head coach Bill Dorenkott said.

The team has traveled to Florida for the last four years in order to gear up for the spring season and the Big Ten Championships in late February.

"It's really the last opportunity to peak from a volume and intensity standpoint prior to the Big Ten Championships," Dorenkott said.

The training was capped off with an impressive first place finish at the Matt Gribble Invitational held at the University of Miami on Jan. 7. The Lions finished with a score of 1,032 team points, over 500 more points than the Virginia Tech Hokies, who finished in second with 437.

The domination of the meet was made possible after seven different swimmers won individual events. Freshmen Josh Graham, Sean Biedermann, and Kyle Miranda won the 400 IM, 200 freestyle, and 200 breaststroke, respectively. Junior Shawn McLin finished first in the 200 backstroke and junior Chris Ippoliti posted a win in the 100 butterfly, while senior Dustin Thompson took first in the 500 freestyle. Fellow senior Daryl Northrop placed first in the 100 freestyle.

The annual trip to Florida would not be needed at all, if the team had access to an indoor 50-meter pool here at Penn State. McCoy Natatorium houses a 25-meter instructional pool, a 25-yard competition pool and an outdoor 50-meter pool, but the team would need an indoor version of the 50-meter pool to be able to train for long course events during the winter months.

"We're one of the only teams in the Big Ten that doesn't have an indoor 50-meter pool," Dorenkott said. "We have an outdoor pool but that doesn't do us much good up in the north. It's been one of the sticking points in terms of getting a little more growth out of our program."

The Lions look to sustain the form that they reached during the Florida training trip during the next two weeks of practice before they meet Rutgers at home on Jan. 22.