For four athletes on the Penn State men's track and field team, the first competition of the outdoor season yielded a major season goal -- qualifying for the NCAA Regional Championships.
Middle distance runner Mark Miller, javelin thrower Allen Pettner, high jumper Ryan Fritz and shot putter Steve Meyers all posted marks that were good enough to secure a spot in the late season meet.
The top five in each event from the regional competition advance to the NCAA championships.
Even after a strong finish to a grueling indoor season a month ago, the team was fresh out of the gates, eager to begin competing at a high level.
The first weekend of competition after a short break saw the team split up and attend separate meets. Most of the athletes who were looking for strong competition to reach a qualifying mark made the trip out to California to compete in the highly competitive Stanford Invitational. The remainder of the squad went to the George Mason Invitational.
"Stanford's a pretty high-level competition," Penn State head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "So we took some of our front end guys out here."
Miller and Pettner were among those on the West Coast, while Myers and Fritz competed closer to home in Virginia.
Finishing in a time of 1 minute, 50.25 seconds, Miller, the reigning Big Ten champion in the 800 meters, came across the line in ninth place.
Pettner, the defending Big Ten champion in the javelin, threw a personal best of 69.04 meters en route to winning the event. The Stanford Invitational was Pettner's first meet of the season and provided him with a throw that is the third best in the nation.
At George Mason, Fritz and Myers posted qualifying marks in the more low-key of the two meets.
Coming off an All-America indoor season, Fritz jumped well below his personal best but still managed to win and notch a ticket to the NCAA regional meet. His height was 6-feet, 10.75-inches.
Fritz's jump coach Andrew Hardyk viewed his performance as a success even with the slight dip in his usual height.
"We had two goals," Hardyk said. "We wanted to win the meet and get the regional mark out of the way. Those two things were accomplished. We're working on some things and training hard at this point."
In the shot put, Myers finished first by a slim margin to fellow Nittany Lion Dane Miller. Myers' toss of 55-4.5 was the only one that was far enough to achieve NCAA regional status.
For the four athletes on the men's side who got their regional marks this past weekend, the amount of pressure will be less throughout the early stages of the season.
