Originally, the Jim Thorpe Invitational was to be held at Nittany Lion Track tomorrow, but due to a lack of interest, the Penn State men's track and field team did not have to look far for another meet.

The Nittany Lions will make the one-hour trip to the Bucknell Team Challenge, in Lewisburg, Pa., tomorrow.

Penn State will face Bucknell, Lock Haven, St. Francis (Pa.), Duquesne, UMBC, Binghamton and Colgate in a team-scored meet.

With trips to competitions in California, Virginia, Alabama and Tennessee in the past three weeks, the Lions are looking forward to staying close to home. The team will get to sleep in its own beds tonight, before heading out early tomorrow morning to the meet.

"The weather forecast is looking promising and everybody needs kind of a low key weekend and no travel," Penn State head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "Yet, it's just down the road so it will be simple and a good competition for us."

Some Lions are looking forward to their first competition in two weeks after several events were cancelled last weekend at the Sea Ray Relays.

Allen Pettner, Tanner Evak and Harold Dunn will have their first chance to compete in the javelin since the Auburn Tiger Classic. Pettner's season-best throw currently ranks at the top of the Big Ten this season, and ninth in the NCAA. He has taken first in both meets this year.

Alford-Sullivan said the javelin throwers and the rest of the athletes who had their events canceled last week will be excited to get back in competition.

"They are pretty motivated to get out there and get the opportunity to make up for last weekend," Alford-Sullivan said. "It's all in the training plan and most of them have been competing very well, so they'll get after it with every opportunity."

The Lions have been going through some tough training cycles leading up to the meet. The team is in full preparation for the Penn Relays that will start on April 21.

The Bucknell Team Challenge is the last meet before the Penn Relays. The Lions are looking for some good individual performances to build some momentum going into next week.

"A lot of the events will be just tuning up for the [Penn] Relays and getting another opportunity in since we lost the part of last weekend," Alford Sullivan said. "The tone is really to stay focused on the individual opportunities, get some good marks and take advantage of some good weather."