For most of the athletes on the Penn State women's track and field team, this weekend's competition was the first away meet of the season.

However, for sophomore sprinter Shana Cox, the trip to Armory, N.Y., for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational on Friday and Saturday was just another trip back home.

Running on her former high school track, Cox placed first in her 400-meter preliminary heat and second overall with an NCAA qualifying time of 53.15 seconds.

"I had almost every single high school track meet there, so I was pretty much comfortable," Cox said.

"I knew how to run on it, so basically I took the positives out of the situation and used it to my advantage."

Despite some impressive individual highlights, the Nittany Lions did not have the breakout weekend they were looking for.

Overall, the team was strong and kept pace with some intense national competition for the second weekend in a row, which included six teams in the Trackwire Top 25.

Penn State women's track and field coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said the team finished "easily in the top 10."

Final team standings were not available yesterday.

"In general, we had an OK weekend," Alford-Sullivan said.

"Overall, I kind of felt like we looked a little flat, we weren't real sharp on things ... but we competed well, we performed well and kept our own throughout the weekend."

Even though this was the first away meet, Alford-Sullivan did not think that traveling affected the team's performance.

Rather it was the four-week continuous stretch of competition it has faced early this season that may have led to some fatigue.

"They're pretty seasoned kids, and it wasn't a problem to travel or to compete in a different facility," she said.

"It was the fourth weekend in a row of running, and this weekend we were just not quite as sharp as we've been."

However, despite the few rough spots, there were some highlights in the Lions' performances this weekend.

In addition to Cox's performance in the 400-meter dash, senior Jennifer Leatherman continued to dominate the throws category. She finished first in the 20-pound weight throw with a mark of 21.18 meters, a facility record.

So far this season, the Lions' meets have contained outstanding individual successes mixed with areas of needed improvement.

They hope that the meets early in the season will serve as positive learning experiences so that the entire team will come together to have one solid performance when it matters the most -- at Big Ten Championships.