Hoping that the record-breaking indoor season would foreshadow a strong championship performance this weekend, the Penn State women's track and field team arrived in Wisconsin with confidence. However, confidence alone was not enough to pull out a Big Ten victory.

Anticipating a top-three finish, the Nittany Lions instead finished fourth with 85 team points at Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center in Madison, Wis. The meet favorite Michigan won a record-setting eighth Big Ten championship, finishing with a total of 127.67 points.

Rather than seeing the finish as a disappointment, Penn State women's track and field head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan had nothing but praise for her squad.

"Overall, our program did the best they could do on this weekend," she said. "I think that this was the best championship for Penn State in the history of the women's track and field program."

Coming into the meet, the team knew that it was shorthanded. The injury to multi-tasking sprinter, jumper and hurdler Gayle Hunter left some holes in the lineup. They knew that there were several events in addition to Hunter's where the Lions would not be able to score, adding pressure on the athletes in the other events to make up for it.

The Lions rose to the challenge and, despite their team finish, Alford-Sullivan felt that they filled those gaps across the board.

"They did the job they had to do, so it wasn't disappointing in that sense," Alford-Sullivan said. "We were disappointed that we didn't get a few more [points], but the team went out and executed."

Among the highlights for the Lions, senior Jennifer Leatherman took the Big Ten championship in both the shot put and the weight throw for the second year in a row. Her throw in the shot put measured 53-5 feet, a provisional qualifying mark. Her mark in the weight throw was equally impressive at 74-10.5 feet.

"She did a tremendous job under pressure," Alford-Sullivan said. "She really had great composure."

The Lions' other standout, sophomore Shana Cox, won her final heat in the 400-meter dash finals with a time of 53.41 seconds, yet she finished second overall in the event. She also finished second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.92 seconds.

In the 60-meter hurdle trials, freshman Aleesha Barber set a facility record with her time of 8.40 seconds. The mark also provisionally qualified her for the NCAA Championships. She placed fourth in the finals.

Closing off the meet on a positive note, the 4x400-meter relay team finished first in its race.

Even though their place in the standings at the end of yesterday was not as high as they had wished, the Lions were proud of their performance. Knowing that they would be facing tough competition this weekend with a thin lineup, the Lions are satisfied that they did their best.

"We held our own," Cox said. "We can walk away from the meet happy with our performance."