Penn State track and field coach Beth Alford-Sullivan spent part of last year's Big Ten championships driving through a snowstorm that turned a 130-mile trip into a five-hour adventure.

She won't have any travel concerns this year, but the solution doesn't leave her much happier.

The Big Ten, for reasons none of Penn State's coaches could explain, hosts its women's and men's indoor track and field championships at two different venues. Alford-Sullivan is staying put in Minneapolis, which hosts the women's championships. The men's championships will be roughly 270 miles away in Madison, Wisc.

"It's a difficult thing to be in two places at once," Alford-Sullivan said. "Very difficult, unfortunately."

Last year, Alford-Sullivan flew to the women's championships in Champaign, Ill., for part of the first day, drove to Bloomington, Ind., to catch part of the men's finals and spent the second day with the women.

Alford-Sullivan debated the possibility of flying this year to see part of the men's championships but nixed those plans when assistant coach Fritz Spence was diagnosed with leukemia.

Initially, she called splitting the Big Ten championships "awful" before softening her stance.

"What other sport expects you to coach a team and be evaluated on the outcome of the team without being able to be at the championship?" Alford-Sullivan said.

The answer to the rhetorical question is none. Every other conference combines the meets, and the Big Ten's cross country and outdoor track and field championships are held at the same site.

So why divide the two for the indoor championships?

"It's successful the way we have it. The meet goes smoothly," said Joe Menaugh, the Big Ten's associate director for championships. Menaugh added it's not feasible for the conference to have 700 athletes in the same place.

Further complicating the matter for Alford-Sullivan is Penn State is just one of five Big Ten programs that have a coach who oversees the men's and women's program. Michigan and Wisconsin, the conference's best two teams, have separate coaches for their men's and women's track teams.

"In some aspects, it might create a disadvantage," assistant coach John Gondak said.

Alford-Sullivan and Johnson hope to negate any disadvantage by accompanying the women's team. Assistants Dayna Wengert, Drew Hudyk and Gondak will travel with the men.

Until the Big Ten combines its championships, Alford-Sullivan will use her BlackBerry to communicate with the men's team.