It's not often a college track and field team gets to travel to where a legend was born. But for the Penn State women's track and field team, that time has come.

The Nittany Lions will pay a visit tomorrow to the University of Oregon's Hayward Field -- the famous home of former Duck and track icon Steve Prefontaine -- for the Pepsi Team Invitational. Recently, Oregon has managed to build its enthusiasm for the sport back up once again, and Eugene may have the most electric track atmosphere of anywhere in the nation.

"It's Track Town U.S.A.," Penn State women's track and field coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "It's the famed Hayward Field. They'll produce a crowd somewhere in the area of 10,000."

The Lions will be participating in a quad team meet, meaning four teams compete in a scored meet, with each team only allowed to score its top two competitors in a given event. The strategy involved is something the coaches think will be a great help to the team early in the season.

"Sometimes it pulls out performances for people because they're thinking about the team," throws coach Dayna Holston Wenger said. "I think you're gonna see the team pull together now on the way to Big Tens."

Penn State will be the geographic anomaly in the meet, which includes the host Ducks, Washington and Boise State. Washington, in addition to its distance team, boasts junior Ashley Lodree, an exceptional sprinter and short-distance hurdler. Oregon, as can be expected, maintains a strong distance program with strengths in the throws and jumps. Senior jumper Lauryn Jordan provides a challenging matchup for emerging Penn State sophomore Lena Bettis.

Bettis isn't intimidated.

"I'm just taking it as it comes," she said.

All-America sophomore sprinter Shana Cox will be competing with the full Lions squad for the first time this season. Last weekend, Cox ventured to California to run in the Stanford Invitational, where she broke the school record in the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.67 seconds. On her second trip to the West Coast in as many weeks, Alford-Sullivan expects Cox to be as successful.

"Shana's only a sophomore, and her race is coming together," Alford-Sullivan said. "You run it so much smoother on an outdoor track."

A strong performance in a highly competitive scored meet could lead to much bigger things in the future.

"It's a pretty high caliber meet," Alford-Sullivan said. "I think our team is ready to go. We look good. I think we can come out on top."