At first, the goal was to qualify for regional championships. Now, with almost every Nittany Lion posting a regional qualifying mark, the Lions are looking to end their tough April stretch with a little fun.

In its last away meet before the Big Ten Championships, the Penn State women's track and field team will run in the 112th annual Penn Relays beginning at 10 a.m. today and continuing through Saturday at Franklin Field. Unlike last weekend, this meet will be high-intensity competition for the Lions, yet at the same time it will provide a little excitement.

"We love the Penn Relays," Penn State women's track and field head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "It's always a great weekend, and it's so much fun to run in front of a stadium with 30 to 40,000 people in it."

Sophomore sprinter Shana Cox said that the Penn Relays has been her favorite meet since high school.

"You feel so honored to be running there because there's just so many people watching you," Cox said. "You just feel like you're on an Olympic level at that time because you're probably not going to get another chance, not even at NCAAs, to run in front of that many people."

The competitors at the meet range from high school students to Olympic athletes. Top-notch programs at the collegiate level such as Miami, Tennessee, Texas and Florida will be challenging the Lions in front of the largest crowd they've seen all year.

Staying true to the name, the meet will consist mostly of relays on the track while the distance races, throws, and jumps will compete as normal. The Lions will be running in all seven of the sprint relays.

Alford-Sullivan said the highest finish a Penn State relay team has had on the track was when the sprint medley relay team took third place last year. Junior jumper Lena Bettis and senior thrower Jen Leatherman are expected to lead the jumps and throws for Penn State against equally challenging competition.

"It's going to be great competition so there's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't rise to the occasion," said sophomore sprinter Dominique Blake, who will be running the 4x800 and 4x400-meter relays. "It's going to be midseason so we should be coming with some pretty good stuff."

On Tuesday, two days prior to the official beginning of the meet, junior Amber Strouse competed in the heptathlon and placed sixth.

The other Lions will be looking to better their past performances and to have a little fun while they're at it.

"It's one of those weekends that's great for our sport," Alford-Sullivan said.