Separated by more than 2,800 miles, members of the Penn State women's track and field team began the outdoor season in meets at George Mason in Fairfax, Va., and Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif.

The goal of the outdoor track and field season is to qualify for NCAA regional championships over Memorial Day weekend, where top finishers will qualify for the national championship meet. Penn State's women earned six total regional qualifying marks over the weekend, three at each of the two meets.

"Regional qualifying is one expectation it's great to accomplish at the first meet," head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "Of course you want to get that regional qualifier done and out of the way so you don't have to worry about it."

The Lions' top competitors traveled to the Stanford Invitational to take on some of the nation's top track and field teams including Michigan, Indiana, and indoor national champions Arizona State. The meet saw 99 separate NCAA regional qualifiers in both men's and women's events.

Heidi Nadeau opened her season in the javelin event by taking third place with a throw of 47 meters and qualifying for the eastern regional championship. Other regional qualifiers from the Stanford invitational included Dominique Blake, who came in second place in the 400-meter dash event at 54.41, and the All-American 4 x 400-meter relay squad of Blake, Shana Cox, Briene Simmons and Aleesha Barber.

Most of Penn State's team was at the George Mason Spring Classic to take on teams from the eastern region. Gayle Hunter took third place in the 100-meter hurdle event with a time of 13.79 seconds, a regional qualifying time. Hunter also won the long jump event with a distance of 5.98 meters. Kim Markel won the 400-meter hurdles while qualifying for regionals at 59.99 seconds.

Claire Percival, who red-shirted the indoor season, took 20 seconds off her previous personal best in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at George Mason. Percival won the event with a regional qualifying time of 10 minutes, 40.73 seconds while teammate Sonja Hinish came in second.

"It's been a very great weekend to jump start us back into the outdoor season," Penn State head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said from Calif. "The competition was great, the weather was perfect and it was a great overall weekend for us."

The team will be back together next weekend on the road at the Tiger Track Classic in Auburn, Ala. on April 6 and 7.