Even the most casual sports fan would have been impressed by the top-notch athletes, elite competition and outstanding performances on display this weekend at the Penn State National Invitational.

The Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track opened its doors to more than 50 teams, as the Penn State men's track and field team faced its toughest competitors this year.

"It was a great weekend for Penn State," head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "We had just a tremendous outpouring of a great crowd, a great atmosphere and great competition. Our athletes really stepped up to that element."

Dane Miller was one of those athletes.

Much like his trademark post-throw shouting of "Come on, come on" to focus himself after an unsatisfactory throw, Miller set his sights for his best throws of the year after a sub-par performance in the first two meets.

Already in second place with one throw remaining, Miller stepped into the pit looking for that one toss to vault him into the lead. When the shot put left his right hand, Miller thought he might take the lead. The result: a throw of 56-feet, six-inches, less than five inches from victory.

"The past two weeks I didn't throw well at all, and I knew I could throw better than I had been throwing, and today I did," Miller said of his throwing. "I threw better. I was more consistent, but I still didn't drop a bomb."

Also in the field, Ryan Fritz leaped his way to a second-place finish in the high jump (6-10.75) and Clarence Smith finished third in the triple jump with a personal best 49-1.25.

In what might have been the most exciting race of the invitational, the mile run produced an exciting finish with former Lion Matt Lincoln pulling a Roger Bannister and breaking the fabled four-minute mile barrier.

Lincoln battled stride for stride with Pittsburgh's Sam Bair before a late surge propelled him to victory. Lincoln's time of 3-minutes, 59.39 seconds broke Bair's facility record of 4:00.14.

The race's breakneck pace helped Penn State's Brian Fuller to finish sixth by running a 4:08.20, crushing a personal record.

"It was a tremendous mile. Breaking the four minute mile is awesome," Alford-Sullivan said. "He pulled his former teammate, our young man Brian Fuller to a personal best."

Another former Lion, Ryan Olkowski, dominated the heptathalon by totaling 5,724 to secure the victory. Penn State's Chris Morrisey took second with 5,156.