Saturday's victory in the Spiked Shoe Invitational was another big step forward for the men's cross country team, perhaps none more so than for Dan Mazzocco.

Mazzocco, hobbled by injuries through the entire 2005 indoor/outdoor track season, bounced back with a third-place finish on Saturday and led the team to its second victory in as many races.

Mazzocco and the Penn State runners got off to a slow start in the race before picking up their pace around the second mile, outpacing the entire field of 17 teams.

Mazzocco led the way and began challenging SUNY-Cortland's Fred Joslyn, who had built up a wide lead during the race's opening stages.

"Right around two miles, I knew I had to start chipping away at [Joslyn]," Mazzocco said. "I caught him at about the two-and-a-half mile mark and decided to start putting pressure on him."

Mazzocco passed Joslyn (who ended up fading back to fifth place) and finished the rest of the race solidly to be the first Lion to cross the finishing line.

"Mazzocco ran a great race, and that's about what shape he's in to run," Penn State cross country coach Harry Groves said. "He's a slow conditioner as the season goes along. He wants to be sure he's at his best at the end of the season."

Mazzocco is indeed improving each week, and his resurgence is all the more sweet for the junior runner when he recalls the difficult months in between last season and now.

"It's been tough; I'm not going to lie," Mazzocco said of his injuries. "You start questioning: Is this sport for me?"

Mazzocco's 2004-05 campaign started off brightly during the cross country season. He was the team's top runner throughout the season and capped the season with a trip to the NCAA Championships, where he finished 78th.

But soon after his trip to the NCAAs, the injuries began to plague Mazzocco.

"I had a hamstring pop, and that caused irritation for a part of the year," Mazzocco said. "Then I had a stress fracture at the top of my shin. So I spent most of the indoor/outdoor season rehabbing those."

During all those months of rehabbing and exercises, Mazzocco made the best of his situation and relished his role supporting his teammates from the sidelines.

"Staying around the team helped me a lot," Mazzocco said. "Just to be able to cheer for your teammates, because they're there for you. So it was good to see the other side of the sport."

Front and center at the race was Mazzocco's family, and he said they have also been a huge boost for him throughout the past year.

"I have a great family and teammates and friends who've been helping me through the injuries," Mazzocco said. "It makes it that much sweeter when you come out on top."