Fifty-five teams, more than 350 runners and one great opportunity for the Penn State men's cross country team to make a statement.

The Nittany Lions come into this weekend's Paul Short Invitational rolling, with wins in their first two races. But at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Lehigh University, the stakes will once again be raised. The Lions are currently ranked ninth in the United States Cross Country Coaches Mid-Atlantic Region poll.

Above them sit Lehigh (seventh), LaSalle (fifth) and defending regional champion Georgetown (first), which is also ranked No. 12 in the nation.

The Auburn Tigers will also make the trip up north for the race. They are currently ranked fifth in the South Region. That's a lot of talent in one race, but once the starting gun sounds, stats and rankings all disappear.

According to Penn State men's cross country coach Harry Groves, anything can happen.

"You can talk until you are blue in the face, but when you get out there, you have to do it," Groves said.

The Lions have let their running do the talking so far this season. Junior Dan Mazzocco is coming off a third-place finish at the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational. His team grouped well behind him, taking five of the top 10 spots. Senior Chris Nirschel placed ninth last week and third on the team. After his finish, he commented that it wasn't his best performance.

To be successful this weekend, Penn State will need sophomore Oskar Nordenbring, senior Matt Lincoln and senior John Iannacone to continue their consistent scoring performance from the past two weeks. Nordenbring finished fifth at Lock Haven and sixth last week at the Spiked Shoe.

This weekend's field is bigger and better than what the Lions were up against the first two races of the season. With such a large field, winning the race will be a difficult task for any team. Groves commented on how to measure success in such a large race.

"If we are in the top three, four or five teams we will have done a noble job," Groves said. "With almost 400 runners, if you can get five guys under 50, you did pretty darn good."

Lehigh's course is wide open and runners can run their own race, according to Groves. They don't have to race just to get to a narrow spot in the course before other runners. Groves compared the course at Lehigh to the one at Penn State and described it as medium difficulty.

The course at Lehigh will also be host to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships. The Lions can use this weekend to get a feel for the course they will be running on again in November when the stakes will be even higher.

The conference is as talented as ever, but Groves is undaunted, saying that it's just the nature of cross country. He noted that, on any given day, a runner could rise to the occasion, and this weekend would be good practice for the more intense races toward the end of the season.

As usual he stressed that the sport is all about progression. And how has his team progressed so far?

"[We are] making some forward progression, we think," Groves said.