The women's track and field team hopes to build upon last week's record-setting performance when it hosts the Penn State Open this Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.

At last weekend's Penn State Relays, the sprint medley relay team of Briene Simmons (800-meters), Lauren Burns (200-meters), Lena Bettis (200-meters) and Aleesha Barber (400-meters) finished with a time of three minutes, 56.63 seconds, which set a new meet, track and school record.

The distance medley relay team of Bridget Franek (1,200-meters), Kim Markel (400-meters), Meghan Hutchinson (800-meters) and Leah Rosenfeld (1,600-meters) set a new meet record with a time of 11:51.52.

Bettis also finished first in the long jump and triple jump. Her efforts earned her Big Ten Field Athlete of the week honors. Bettis hopes to continue her success this weekend when she will again compete in the long and triple jumps.

"The first week is obviously the opening week so you just want to get a good mark and go from there," she said. "My goals are higher each week as we go on."

This year's coaching staff will be handling new responsibilities as head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan is in her first year of coaching both the men's and women's teams after coaching the women exclusively since 1999. Alford-Sullivan said that the entire coaching staff has helped in the transition.

"It's been a great transition," she said. "We've got a great, cohesive coaching staff."

Bettis said the team's main goal is to win the Big Ten Championship. The team features a well-rounded lineup that returns one of the most decorated runners in Penn State history -- four-time All-American Shana Cox.

The team must face the challenge of dealing with the loss of two-time Big Ten champion thrower Jen Leatherman.

Alford-Sullivan said that while they cannot replace Leatherman's individual contributions, throwers Christen Clemson and Helen Higgins have stepped up to provide the team with better overall depth than they have had in previous seasons.

While last weekend's Penn State Relays focused more on relays, this weekend's Penn State Open will allow the athletes to compete individually and will offer them a chance to qualify for nationals. According to Alford-Sullivan, the top 15-to-18 performances qualify for nationals each year.

"Each meet is definitely a chance to automatically qualify for nationals," Bettis said. "It gets you ready for Big Ten, but each meet is individually important and you have to take each one seriously because it's an opportunity each time you step on the track."