Most of the athletes are a picture-perfect bunch. They compete hard, they say the right things and heated dissatisfaction is cooled down to a simmer after the meet is over, producing some smiles.

For the throwers, the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup was a very successful meet. Senior throws captain Kate Johnston accomplished a personal record mark of 65.02 feet in the weight throw, coming up second only to Amanda Walker of Pittsburgh. If there was any disappointment with not coming out on top, it wasn't visible.

"Oh, it felt good," Johnston said. "I just know I have a lot more in me, so it's kind of encouraging."

But unlike mostly everyone else on the Penn State women's track team, junior Jennifer Leatherman had some difficulty tempering her frustration. In the weight throw, Leatherman finished third, less that an inch off of Johnston's mark, with a throw of 64.06 feet. That doesn't mean she was content.

"I'm not happy about the weight [throw]," Leatherman said. "I really don't care about it anymore."

Leatherman went on to say that she was so disappointed in her efforts in the weight throw that she would just like to specialize in the shot put, in which she finished second to Walker after throwing a personal record of 52.01 feet.

A partial observer might not understand how the Penn State record holder in the weight throw, which Leatherman is, could have so little confidence. She set the Penn State record this indoor season with a mark of 65.03 feet, but it seems that self-confidence is now becoming an issue.

In three attempts in the finals of the weight throw this past weekend, she fouled three straight times. All of Leatherman's best throws have come in the preliminary rounds of competition, or sometimes even before that.

"I don't know. I mean, I do fine in warm-ups and mess up in the meet, so there is not really much to do," Leatherman said.

Leatherman seemed worried that she wouldn't be able to correct things in time for the Big Ten Championships. Penn State throws coach Dayna Holston said that Leatherman definitely will throw in the Big Ten Championships, and that much of what Leatherman said was just out of raw emotion.

"[Leatherman] is really intense," Holston said. "Right now, she is still learning how to present her feelings in a better way."

Holston said Leatherman could improve herself by patterning herself closer to Johnston.

"Just the perspective. [Johnston] realizes that sometimes you have your goals for yourself, and that things do or don't happen for a reason," Holston said.

The shot put exemplified that when Johnston made her collegiate debut. Johnston usually specializes in the 20-pound weight throw. But this past weekend she was asked to do something she knew she wasn't as good at, and did it for the team. Distance goals weren't as much a factor.

"I'm just going to try and help out the team and maybe get a couple points for Big Tens," Johnston said. "My goal is around 40 [feet]."

Johnston ended up attaining her goal in the shot put, getting 17th with a throw of 40.01 feet. The performance was very characteristic of what the Lions coaching staff asked of the team before the meet this past weekend.

"Track and field can be so individual, with everybody taking care of their own job and their own performances," Holston said. "We asked them to pull together this weekend for each other."

This weekend Leatherman could be seen with a smile on her face after the shot put competition. For a while this season, that was rare because shot put was the event with which she struggled.

"When [Leatherman's] not getting the results she wants, it's hard to find a smile in there," Penn State coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said.

If Leatherman could find more smiles, in both the weight throw and shot put, then everyone will be smiling.