Jim Thorpe was a giant of track and field, winning both the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games.

When the Penn State women's track and field team competes in the Jim Thorpe Invitational tomorrow at the Nittany Lion Track, the Nittany Lions will not be facing any program nearly as imposing as the legendary Thorpe would be by himself.

Instead, they will compete against relative track dwarfs in Columbia, Lehigh, St. Francis (Pa.) and the main competition, a team better known for its basketball this March, Bucknell.

"What I'm looking for from this team is a team that decides to compete regardless of the level of competition," Penn State coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said.

Bucknell did win the Patriot League Conference this indoor season, after three straight conference titles. Yet, the Bison are still not up to the level of a Penn State.

Bucknell sophomore pole-vaulter Melanie Buczko was the second athlete in the history of the program to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.

But, when the meet starts at 11 a.m., the Nittany Lions expect to dominate.

"When you wear the blue and white at home on your home facility, you give it your best, and you give it your all," Alford-Sullivan said.

This will be Penn State's first home meet of the outdoor season, and the first time since the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup on Feb. 11-12 that the Lions have competed at home. This meet will not be scored, and all the Lions will be expecting is to work out some of the kinks, and use this experience as a warm-up for meets later in the season.

Athletes who Alford-Sullivan believes can do without the preparation will sit out for this one. Senior distance captain Molly Landreth and freshman Shana Cox will again rest for more important meets later in the season. Freshman heptathlete Gayle Hunter, on the other hand, will jump right into the fire, heading to Mississippi University's Ole Miss Invitational to compete in the heptathlon.

Penn State realizes that it is early in the season. That is why the Lions really don't expect huge fan attendance for this meet, or for the weather to really cooperate.

"The meets have been fairly low key and so on," Alford-Sullivan said. "We really don't get a big fan base when the weather's not that great."

And the forecast could very well call for rain tomorrow. But despite the unfavorable conditions of an early April day in State College, the Lions are at least happy to not be loading up the bus and traveling to compete.

"You get to sleep the night before in your home bed," Alford-Sullivan said. "Eat what you like to eat. You don't have the stress of travel and wear and tear."

This might be a more relaxing weekend for the Penn State team, and the competition less intense. But that doesn't mean anyone has the week off.

Otherwise, this meet would not be deserving of being named after Jim Thorpe, who was named by the United State's Congress the greatest athlete of the 20th century.