Before last year, Penn State had never sent a 4 x 400 meter relay team to Nationals.

Now, after setting a Penn State record and getting its first exposure to Nationals last year, the 4 x 400 team of Shana Cox, Dominique Blake, Brienne Simmons and Aleesha Barber is poised to make an impact at both the Big Ten championships and the national meet. Penn State improved by a full half-second on its time from last weekend, dropping from 3 minutes, 35.20 seconds to 3:34.70, further solidifying their standing as the third-fastest 4 x 400 relay team in the nation.

Though it has yet to break the record they set last year, the team is ahead of last year's pace. Penn State coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said that last year's team did not run its record-setting time of 3:34.04 until after the Big Ten championships, and that the team has the ability to improve on that mark. Cox noticed an increased focus from her teammates.

"I'm really proud of the 4 x 4 because from the first meet they came out there and they attacked the 4 x 4 like it was Nationals," she said. "There's a sort of flame or fire there that wasn't there before."

This year's relay team is in a unique position in that they are both young and experienced at the same time. There are no seniors, but all of the runners from last year's team that finished 12th at Nationals return, too. Cox expects that last year's experiences will give the team a boost when it returns to Nationals next month.

"We had a young team that went to Nationals last year," Cox said. "Even if we didn't make the best out of those situations we were put in those situations and now we know how to react off of it. Other teams don't have these people going to Nationals and being on the relay until they're seniors."

Penn State will count on continued improvement from the 4 x 400 team at the Big Ten championships in two weeks, and Cox is optimistic that she and her teammates will deliver.

"I can't expect anything but good things in the weeks to come."