In the opening weekend of the women's track and field outdoor season, the Nittany Lions continued where they left off the indoor season -- with a promise of success.

On Friday and Saturday at the Raleigh Relays at North Carolina State, the Penn State women's track and field team had its share of dominating performances and places for improvement.

Despite the low points, however, Penn State women's track and field head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan was pleased with her team's effort as it battled unusually chilly temperatures and a longer meet schedule than during the indoor season.

"They really adjusted to the elements of the outdoor season," Alford-Sullivan said. "I thought it was good opener to get ready for outdoors."

"We just needed to go on an outdoor track," senior sprinter Cheryl Green said. "Basically it was a learning experience to figure out what we had to do for Big Tens later."

Among the highlights of the weekend, senior thrower Jennifer Leatherman opened her final season as a Lion by placing first in both the shot put and the hammer throw. The throws qualified her for the regional championship in both events. She won the shot put with a mark of 40-06.5 feet. In the hammer throw, the outdoor equivalent to the indoor 20-pound weight throw, she won comfortably with a mark of 199-02 feet.

"She has the type of attitude that we need on the team," Green said. "She doesn't care about external factors and goes out and does what she needs to do to win."

Sophomore Heidi Nadeau finished third in the javelin with a throw of 149-09 feet. After not competing in the indoor season, she opened her outdoor season qualifying for regional championships in this event.

As for the runners, freshman Claire Percival finished first in the steeplechase with a time of 11:02.18. Junior Kim Markel finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.51, one second off her lifetime best in the event. Junior sprinter and jumper Monique Walker set a personal best in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.56 seconds, placing eighth overall.

Some athletes who went to the indoor national championships two weeks ago, including the 4x400-meter relay team and All-American sophomore sprinter Shana Cox, did not compete this weekend. Instead, they used the time to rest and prepare to open next week at the Jim Thorpe Invitational at Penn State.

"The little things make it look like it will come together pretty well for us," Alford-Sullivan said. "We look to build some momentum as we move through the harder part of season."