Penn State women's track and field coach Beth Alford-Sullivan clutched a trophy signifying her team's victory this weekend in the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup, held at the Multi-Sport Facility.

But it didn't come in quite the way she expected. A few mistakes and shaky performances made the Nittany Lions' first team-scored meet of the season a little closer than she had hoped it would be.

"Little things can cost us, so I'm glad we're getting it out of our system here," Alford-Sullivan said.

Of course, the trophy Alford-Sullivan really wants is the Big Ten Championship Trophy, and her team will need to be as mistake-free as possible in order to obtain it.

"At this point in the season, I don't like to see mistakes, but I do think we recovered," she said.

Penn State recovered by jumping from fourth place at the end of Friday to first at Saturday's end, finishing with 111 points, 29 points ahead of second place Akron. Eastern Michigan came in third.

Alford-Sullivan gave credit to her seniors -- competing in their final indoor home meet -- for not letting false starts, fouls and other errors hold them down. Sara Shoaff took second in the 200-meter dash with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 23.82, behind only teammate sophomore Shana Cox. Shoaff also filled in for Cox in the 4X400-meter relay. Alford-Sullivan said Cox sat out the relay because Penn State had already won the meet at that point.

"It felt amazing," Shoaff said. "I just didn't wanna get beat on my own track for my last meet."

Fellow senior Jennifer Leatherman had a typical day, winning the 20-pound weight throw and also placing first in the shot put with a personal-best 53-05 feet. The throw also provisionally qualified Leatherman for the NCAA Championships.

"Jen was definitely composed and confident," throws coach Dayna Holston Wenger said in a press release. "She had the throw of a lifetime."

Other seniors had big weekends in their final events at the Multi-Sport Facility. Cheryl Green finished third in the 600-meter run, Kate Curran placed fifth in the 5,000-meter run and Molly Landreth took fourth in the 3,000-meter run. Landreth also ran in the distance medley relay, a first for her this season.

"We're trying to figure out our best legs going into the [Big Ten Championships]," Alford-Sullivan said. "Landreth has run big the last couple of weekends."

Junior Amber Strouse also had a performance that generated a lot of buzz. She took third in the pentathlon with a score of 3,729 points. The score -- a personal record -- qualifies her provisionally for the NCAAs.

"In the morning I actually didn't feel as great as I should have," Strouse said. "Most of what happened came from within. It gives me a lot more confidence."

In addition to Strouse, a handful of juniors also had solid weekends to back up their senior teammates. Lena Bettis placed second in the long jump, Briene Simmons clocked in at fourth in the 800-meter run, Kim Markel took fifth in the 600-meters and Kamilah Salaam placed fourth against a competitive field in the 60-meter hurdles.

The Lions hope to be at full strength for the Big Ten Championships, to be held Feb. 25-26 at the University of Wisconsin. They were once again without sophomore star Gayle Hunter, who sat out the second week in a row with a knee injury. Alford-Sullivan says she expects Hunter to be more than ready to go in two weeks.

"We need to recover," Alford-Sullivan said. "We've been hitting hard week in and week out, and this was another long two days on us."

Alford-Sullivan is fully confident her team will not settle for anything lower than first at the Big Tens.

"If we go in there focused, poised and ready and know what our competition is, we'll do amazing," Shoaff said.