The Lions will look to build on last weekend's victory at the Lou Onesty Invitational at the University of Virginia, where Penn State's 180 points defeated Virginia (131) and Monmouth (70). The win also yielded 5 new NCAA regional qualifying scores for the Lions to bring their total to 10 athletes they will be sending to the regional championships.
In bringing back a head to head meet with Pitt, Penn State hopes to bring back an intensity to the rivalry that has been lacking in recent years as Pitt built its track team back to it's former level.
"They've always been a real top track team," Penn State coach Harry Groves said of Pitt. "They kind of lost it for a while but they're getting it back now."
While the rivalry factor for this weekend's meet may run higher than most, Penn State assistant coach Mark Gottdenker said the meet will not have the bad blood that might be expected, because of how long it's been since a dual meet between Penn State and Pitt.
"Like any other rivalry, real or imagined, for it really to pick up steam and for enthusiasm to pick up it's going to take time," Gottdenker said.
Gottdenker would not underestimate Pitt's progress, saying he believes this meet will be close and that Pitt has a good chance of defeating Penn State this weekend.
"I don't think they're up and coming, I think they're there," Gottdenker said. "They're good. They're getting better every single year. They're doing a good job recruiting and they're doing a great job once they get their athletes on campus."
The intensity of the Nittany Lion's and the way they approach the meet will have a large impact on the final score. Gottdenker emphasized the importance of recognizing the scoring system for the meet and the strength of Pitt's team.
"The scoring system the NCAA has in place for dual meets is designed to keep meets close and exciting," Gottdenker said. "I genuinely hope they're up for the meet, because if they're not, there's a good chance it's going to be a real tight meet."
