With less than a month and only two weekends of competition left until the Big Ten Championships, the Penn State men's swimming and diving team will look to use its time wisely this weekend in Iowa City during a double dual meet with Iowa and Missouri.

Competition will begin at 5 tonight and continue tomorrow morning at 9 from the University of Iowa Fieldhouse Pool.

As the conference championships near, each chance the Nittany Lions (4-1) have to compete against other teams is invaluable. The Lions will face their first Big Ten opponent of the season in Iowa this weekend before rounding out their regular season at home against Ohio State next weekend.

"We need to understand that there is a sense of urgency, that every time out counts and that we've got limited opportunities to gauge where we are and improve," Penn State coach Bill Dorenkott said.

Last weekend the Lions won against Rutgers, but the gauge revealed that the team was beat up physically. Though the Lions would be happy with wins this weekend, Dorenkott told his team that its condition is sometimes more important than results.

"I told them I'm a lot less concerned with the outcome that I am with the level of intensity -- the process -- the appreciation for what goes into success. The outcome will take care of itself," Dorenkott said. "We definitely are a little more tired than I would like at this point of the year, so really the two key words heading into this next phase of the season are 'rest' and 'sharpen'."

This weekend the Lions will face a Missouri team that is on the rebound. After having a 1-5 record at the same point last season, the Tigers (5-1) have flipped that record around this year, with their only loss coming in the opening meet of their season to No. 18 Texas A&M, 170-130.

On the other hand, Iowa is a program in a state of disarray.

This weekend will be just the second time interim head coach Marc Long will lead the Hawkeyes (2-7, 0-4 Big Ten) in a meet. In its first appearance under Long last Saturday, Iowa lost to No. 7 Minnesota, 194-89.

Long, who was already interim coach for the women's team, took over the men's squad after head coach John Davey resigned, citing personal reasons on Dec. 20 after seven seasons as head coach.

The resignation of Davey unexpectedly changed the Iowa swimming program from a split program to a combined one. For the remainder of this season, Long and his staff will now have to lead both men's and women's teams with the same amount of personnel that was intended for just the women's team.