Come rain, snow, sleet or hail, a Nittany Lion runner never fails. It's usually the United States Postal Service following this creed, but Saturday morning it was the Penn State men's track and field team, which had to endure some less-than-perfect weather at the Nittany Lion Relays.
The almost constant rain and cold temperatures in the low-40s kept most teams at home, and had Pittsburgh called and canceled, Penn State men's track and field head coach Harry Groves said he would have canceled the entire event. But the Panthers showed up -- the only school other than Penn State to enter multiple athletes into competition -- and the relays turned essentially into a dual meet between Penn State and Pittsburgh.
The Lions dominated the Panthers, as the Lions would have won by 40 points had the meet been scored.
Despite the inclement weather, the athletes were still eager to perform. Assistant coach Drew Hardyk praised the athletes and their willingness to compete in such horrible conditions.
"We didn't have anyone trying to get out of their events because of the weather," he said. "We had some good attitudes out there today."
There were also some good performances to go along with the good attitudes.
The weather forced some events to be moved inside the Multi-Sport Facility. The pole vault, long jump, triple jump and high jump each had to be moved inside for safety purposes.
While inside, senior Tyler Fedeli qualified for regionals in the high jump with a leap of 6-10.75.
Outside, soaked senior thrower Steve Meyers regionally qualified in his second event when he posted a personal best throw of 171-9 in the discus to go along with the regional qualifier in the shot put he earned earlier this year at the Jim Thorpe Invitational.
The personal record throw is even more impressive because it was almost impossible to get a good grip on the wet discus.
Throwing coach Mark Gottdenker was more than pleased with Meyers' throw, adding that he was simply hoping to get through the day without any injuries.
Meyers twice avoided injury when he slipped in the discus and also in the shot put. The throwing circles were filled with water, and it was almost impossible to get steady footing.
The injury bug did hit one Lion, as sophomore Jacob Wieder went down in the 200. Groves said he thought the injury was a strained muscle caused by the cold weather.
All in all, considering the weather, the coaches felt it was a good meet for the Lions, as they were able to post two regional qualifying marks and finish the day without any serious injuries.
At the end of the day, Groves also made sure to bring attention to the group of dedicated officials who volunteered to stand in the rain and cold for almost six hours.
"Without the officials," Groves said, "this meet would never have been able to happen. They were more soaked than the athletes were, and they are doing this for no pay. We have great group of dedicated officials."
Immediately after the conclusion of the Nittany Lion Relays, Groves hopped into a van and drove Patrick Murphy, Dennis O'Connor, Ian McCann and Dave Moore to Philadelphia to compete in Sunday's Penn Relays Distance Classic.
Murphy finished in third place after completing the 20K course in 1:07:45.
Murphy also led Penn State to a second-place team finish. The Lions were one second behind the winners, team Quaker Elite of the University of Pennsylvania.
Despite the weather, this weekend turned out to be a successful one for the Penn State men's track and field team. The good showing could not have come at a better time as the Lions will once again make the trip to historic Franklin Field for the most prestigious track and field event in the world, the Penn Relays. The action begins Thursday, as the team will look to make its mark on the track-and-field world.
