It was cloudy and overcast at the Raleigh Relays, but despite the lack of rain and meaningful competition, the Penn State women's outdoor track and field team was still able to get its collective feet a little damp.

"This wasn't the highest level of competition we've faced," Penn State coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "But we were just getting our feet wet."

In the Nittany Lions' first meet of the outdoor season, competition was so far below ordinary that St. Augustine, the Division II indoor national champion, swept the sprint relay events (the 4x100, 4x200, and 4x400), with the Lions finishing second to the Lady Falcons in the 4x400 with a time of 3:44.48.

St. Augustine, a small program based in Raleigh, N.C., near North Carolina State, where the meet was held, did not surprise Alford-Sullivan. George Williams, the Lady Falcons head coach, coached with Alford-Sullivan during last summer's Olympics in Athens.

"They have a great program, year-in and year-out, winning national championships," Alford-Sullivan said. "They also had the home crowd, and in most of those events we weren't really trying to win."

While the rest of the Penn State team was experiencing its first foray of the season outdoors, two star performers stayed home to rest for upcoming meets. Senior distance captain Molly Landreth and freshman Shana Cox, one of the main cogs of sprint-relay core, did not make the trip.

Though two Lions were inactive, three Penn State athletes were taking their first steps toward nationals. Three Penn State athletes collected a total of four regional qualifying marks, with junior Jennifer Leatherman picking up two of them -- one in the shot put and the other in the hammer throw.

Leatherman crushed the light competition in the shot put, placing first with a qualifying throw of 51 feet 6.5 inches. In the hammer throw, senior Kate Johnston finished in second place with a throw of 189 feet 7 inches. Both Penn State athletes made qualifying throws, as Leatherman finished third.

In the long jump, Gayle Hunter kept up with her usual performance from the indoor season by placing first, and also regionally qualifying with a jump of 19 feet 6.5 inches. But despite it being its first venture outdoors, Alford-Sullivan was impressed with her squad's performance.

"We had a lot of things go well and it was really good having people rusty going into the outdoor season," Alford-Sullivan said.

The rest of the Lions shook off the rust to a point at which there was almost a midseason shine. Junior Sara Shoaff finished second in the 100-meter dash, with a time of 12.10 seconds. Sophomore Kamilah Salaam finished only milliseconds behind Shoaff, coming in third with the same official time.

Sophomore pole-vaulter Kelly Nesbit finished fourth, coming over the bar at a height of 11 feet 7.75 inches. All around Penn State faired well for just a start.

"It was a really good competition across the board," Alford-Sullivan said. "It was good getting into the rhythm of the outdoor season."

The only problem might have been trying to not freeze. The temperature was only around 45 to 50 degrees.

"Being outside eight to nine hours a shot, it is difficult just to stay warm," Alford-Sullivan said.

As it gets warmer outside, then the Penn State team will become more and more at home with the outdoors. But for just getting a start, they were not cold to the challenge.