The Penn State men's track team made a triumphant return to scored team meets at the Penn State/UConn/Princeton Triangular Meet with a 161-point showing that defeated visiting Princeton (124) and Connecticut (67) Saturday at the Multi-Sport Facility.

Penn State's 161 points were also the most points ever scored by a track team in the eight-year history of the tri-meet.

The Nittany Lions were in the driver's seat for the whole meet, winning 12 of 17 events, but nowhere was Penn State's control more evident than in the field events. Coach Harry Groves said much of the team's success was due to the strength of field team members and Princeton's lack thereof.

"They have a lot of holes in their team like their high jump, their long jump and their throws," Groves said.

Junior Tyler Fedeli in the high jump and David Bollinger in the pole vault each had season highs, winning their events handily. Sophomore Ryan Kleintop won both the long jump and the triple jump competitions, earning 14 points for the Lions.

Penn State took first and second place in both the shot put and 35-pound weight throw.

Junior Scott Vernon won the weight throw and senior Aaron Ross came in second with distances of 65 feet, 8.25 inches and 60 feet, 5 inches, respectively. In the shot put, junior Dane Miller came in first with a throw of 54 feet, 8.75 inches, with junior Steve Meyers coming in second at 53 feet, 8.25 inches.

The 4x400-meter relay team, one of Penn State's strengths, failed to improve much on its previous times.

"We had a couple of bad legs in there. So, as a team, it didn't run that well," Groves said.

The tri-meet was one of the smaller meets Penn State will compete in this year, a factor Groves said contributed to the team's success.

"These are the kind of meets that get you to where you want to go," Groves said. "With our kind of team, you mess around with us in too many events, we're gonna get you."