Last weekend at the Penn State Open, it was every man for himself. This weekend, it is everyone for the team for the Penn State men's track and field team. But one thing remains constant, and that is the Nittany Lions' approach to each meet.

"We are trying to win the meet," Penn State coach Harry Groves said. He added that it should be a tough meet with three teams competing from three different conferences.

The three teams competing at the meet are Penn State, Connecticut and Princeton.

The meet will also be following a scoring format, where the top two finishers for each team score points for their team.

Because of the smaller number of teams competing, the Lions plan on running at least two athletes per track event.

"We are trying to win each event but also trying to maximize our scoring potential," Penn State assistant coach Mark Gottdenker said.

This is the eighth year that the tri-meet will be running. The Lions and Huskies have each won it three times and the Tigers once.

Last year, the Huskies were crowned champions with the Lions in second place and the Tigers third.

"UConn shocked us last year," Penn State co-captain Aaron Ross said. "We want to get a little redemption for that."

The Lions also felt that although they had a solid team last year, their performance at the meet was lackluster. This year, they feel that they are a stronger and deeper team.

But they are still following the same training technique they used last year, where each meet was a progression to peak at the Big Ten Championships.

"This meet is important about trying to learn about how to win as a team," Ross said. "The way we compete as a team will really set the framework up for the Big Tens."

All three teams are well rounded, in that they are all competitive in both the track and field events. The Tigers are particularly known for their depth, while the Huskies have some very talented individuals.

Therefore, it is important that the Lions have consistent performances across the board.

"We are in a position where, if we go in and do what we are supposed to do, we execute, maybe get a little bit lucky in a couple of places, we should do quite well," Gottdenker said.

Winning this meet would signal that the Lions are on the right track in their quest to win the big one, the Big Ten Championship.