If everything had gone as planned, he would've spent his weekends last winter where he belonged, on the indoor track. He would've earned many more victories and given further proof that he is one of the best to run at Penn State.

Fate doesn't always adhere to the plan, though, and instead of leading his team in competition every week, Penn State runner Dan Mazzocco spent every Friday last winter in his car.

Mazzocco would trudge to all his classes on Friday every week and then make the snowy drive from State College to Pittsburgh. There, he would receive treatment for the double stress fracture that he suffered during the cross country season that would keep him out of the indoor and outdoor track seasons for the second time in four years.

"[Dan] was pretty discouraged during all of that," Nancy Mazzocco, Dan's mother said. "But he just figured that if it's worth it in the end, it'll all be worth it."

He returned from that injury this past season and once again stepped up as the cross country team's unquestionable leader. He was the top runner in every race except for one this season. On Nov. 21, he passed 20 runners in the final mile of the NCAA Championships, finishing 43rd, and became the first Penn State runner since 1993 to earn All-America status.

"I made up my mind when I was running that I can't watch a dream of mine get away from me," Mazzocco said. "I'm definitely happy I was able to come back in the race and get the All-American spot."

The race, his best finish ever at the NCAAs, does not mark the culmination of his time at Penn State -- he still has another year of eligibility -- but it simply marks his pace and shows how far he's come since last winter.

"Dan's got a lot of ability and it's all going to come out someday,"Penn State men's cross country and track coach Harry Groves said. "It's just a shame things have taken off so slowly."

One would expect someone who won two PIAA titles in his senior year of high school and lost his very first year of college competition to injury to be somewhat bitter and angry.

Don't expect that from Mazzocco.

The regret definitely isn't there. Even though leg injuries have only allowed him one full year of competing in both cross country and track, in 2003, Penn State's best runner is too positive a person to dwell on what could have been.

"A lot of people will get an injury and it will completely wreck them, you won't see them again for a few weeks," Penn State assistant coach Artie Gilkes said.

"Dan gets an injury and he keeps coming everyday just like he's completely healthy and gonna run the workout everyday."

The bitterness definitely isn't there. Mazzocco isn't the type to sit back and bemoan the hand fate has dealt him. Asked if he ever has any regrets about the hand he's been dealt, Mazzocco shrugs his slender shoulders and gives a little half-smile.

"It's not the people who have the easiest ride who get to the top, it's the ones who continue to get back up after having a bumpy ride," he said.

Mazzocco's perpetually positive demeanor and quiet determination are what's kept him going this long and no one can deny that he's made the most of the time he's had so far. The question remains, though, how much does Mazzocco still have bottled up inside waiting to get out?

"I hope [my potential] takes me a lot farther," Mazzocco said.

The injuries snuck up on Mazzocco even before he got to Penn State. As a senior in 2002 at Baldwin High School in Pittsburgh, he was in the midst of winning PIAA titles in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter when he began to develop a stress fracture in his left leg.

A stress fracture is a common sports injury, particularly in running, where the impact of a foot on the ground causes fatigue on the muscles and eventually a tiny crack develops in the bone. In Mazzocco's case, the bone was his left femur.

Even though he was clearly in pain, Mazzocco felt well enough to compete in the cross country team's 2002 season opener and managed to finish seventh, better than any other Penn State runner.

The continual pressure on his legs led to another stress fracture, though, this time in his right leg. That injury killed Mazzocco's freshman year for good, and he was forced to redshirt the rest of the season.

That summer Mazzocco received even more bad news when he found out he was developing asthma. He said it was something that probably was evident at times in high school, but tests he took never showed anything.

"I was pretty down and out at that point and considered hanging up the spikes," Mazzocco said. "But there's just something in you that tells you, 'You have to ride this out and see what happens.' "

In spite of the constant threat of injury and, now, problems breathing, Mazzocco didn't hang up the spikes and responded in the next year with one of the best seasons he's had at any level.

Mazzocco was named the Mid-Atlantic Region Cross Country athlete of the year in 2003 and led the Lions to a NCAA Region II Championship for the first time since 1987. He was also named to the All-Big Ten first team after running to a fourth-place finish at the conference championships and made his first trip to the NCAA Championships, finishing 80th.

"2003 is probably what's kept me in it this long," Mazzocco said. "I came into that year just hoping to make the top seven because I didn't really know what kind of shape I was in. Then the season just completely turned around and blew up on me."

Mazzocco maintained his health throughout the track season, running in distance events, but he continued to work just as hard as he did while he was injured.

Penn State trainer Mari Haggerty said that some days following practice, once everyone else had already left, it was not uncommon for her to find Dan in the back of the Multi-Sport Building sitting in the cold whirlpool or doing extra stretching.

"I'd stay as long as it took just to make sure he got that done because it was good mentally for him. He was in there taking care of himself," Haggerty said.

In the 2004 cross country season, he once again made the NCAA Championships, finishing 78th, and led the Lions in all eight of their races. He had begun competing in the indoor track events in the winter, though, when he developed the double stress fracture in his left leg.

The setback kept Mazzocco out of the rest of the indoor track season and the entire outdoor slate, leaving him with nothing to do but train and try to stay positive.

"I was in the pool a lot, and I was riding the bike," Mazzocco said. "But for me, the best way to do it is, I picture like a goal in my mind, like a big thing, like dreaming about being in the Olympics. You pick a goal and then you just visualize it, pretend like you're there competing. That's the only way I got through a lot of it."

Since he couldn't be competing with his team, Mazzocco spent the track season cheering from the sidelines and helping the team the only way possible.

"Of course he would rather be out there," said Chris Nirschel, Mazzocco's teammate and a former competitor in high school. "But I'd be out there running laps hurting pretty bad and we'd be having him out on the corner or somewhere else cheering for us."

Mazzocco was also able to get through the injuries with the support of his family and coaches. Mazzocco said that he made many phone calls home during those difficult months looking for a sense of direction from his parents.

"Sometimes I've called my mom practically in tears, so frustrated," Mazzocco said.

Mazzocco's parents wouldn't let him quit, though, and told him that he needed to stay positive.

"We just told him he can't give up," Nancy Mazzocco said. "He'd have to work through [the injuries] and rehab and things could turn around."

Mazzocco's competitive spirit has never allowed him to quit either. Before he started running in high school, Mazzocco's favorite pastime was BMX racing. Mazzocco always pushed himself, even at a young age, to be faster than everyone else.

Dan's mother didn't like the danger factor of BMX racing too much and slowly convinced him to take up running in high school.

"I sort of bribed him out of [BMX racing]," Nancy said. "I knew he was good [at running] so we started getting his friends into it and running in the local mile. We saw talent there."

Groves recognized Mazzocco's talent as well even though he never saw him run in high school. Just from the titles Mazzocco had won, he knew he would be an asset to the team.

I knew he was a state champ in the mile his sophomore year and that he won cross country and track titles his senior year," Groves said. "I never saw him run, but his results were impressive."

Groves saw the potential in Mazzocco to be an elite runner but because of his injuries he is behind in training compared to other standout runners.

"The problem is that [the injuries] forced him to have to play catch-up with other elite runners," Groves said. "He's coming up pretty good though and, if he keeps training, the sky's the limit."

He's also received a lot of guidance from Gilkes, who is a former Penn State runner with diabetes. Gilkes made sure that Mazzocco knew that he could still be a great runner, but not without some pain.

"I just told him that the days of him feeling comfortable when he's running are over and the sooner he comes to grips with that, the sooner he'll be able to behave like a champion runner and he's done just that," Gilkes said.

Mazzocco's goal going into NCAAs was to earn All-America status. Now that he's achieved that, he would like to build on that goal during the track season, in which he'll compete in distance events again, and next year's cross country season. His ultimate goal, though, is somewhat loftier.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I've dreamed of going to the Olympics," Mazzocco said. "But it's a long way to getting there, first I have to become a top collegiate runner. So I'll take it one step at a time and not worry about that big goal right now."