Sophomore Stephanie Byrd led the Hornets with a third-place finish in the 100-meter dash and a second place finish in the 200 at the Woody Wilson Classic on Saturday at University of California, Davis.

Battling all afternoon against strong winds, Byrd managed to sprint to a time of 12.20 seconds in the 100, while recording a 25.59 time in the 200.

“I think Stephanie can run a 12 flat in the 100 and run somewhere in the neighborhood of a 25 -low in the 200,” Hornet coach Joe Neff said.

On Sunday, two Hornet athletes attended the Mount Sac Relays in Walnut, and both obtained third place finishes in their respective events.

The wind was again stifling when senior Myesha Kirtman finished the 100-meter hurdles well off her normal pace with a time of 14.5. Kirtman still managed to grab third place and was less than a second behind the first place finisher.

Junior Jonathan Davis continued on his road to the Big Sky championships, despite horrendous weather conditions, and clocked in a time of 10.6 in the 100.

On Thursday, another duo of Hornet track athletes participated in the California-Nevada Heptahlon-Decathlon event held at Sac State.

With a fifth-place finish, junior Brandon Lynch qualified himself for the conference championships next month and totaled 5,953 points in the two- day competition. His freshman teammate, Ronald Tilton, placed seventh with 5,289 points.

In the Woody Wilson Classic, senior Cuco Chavez again ran one of his best races ever, clocking a time of 3.52:7 in the 1500 while grabbing a second-place finish, missing first place finish by only two seconds.

Robert McNeil has qualified in the 800 for the Big Sky championships and took eighth place at the invitational, winning his heat in the process.

“They are just on the verge of a big breakthrough,” Neff said of his distance runners. “They just need the right race at the right time and need to do the strategic things right.”

Freshman Nick Santana continued to astonish coaches and competitors alike, with a third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles, capturing a blazing time of 53.71.

“He is doing things very technically well, he is conditioning well, and should make the (Big Sky) finals around 52-plus. He is just having a fantastic freshman year,” Neff said.

The freshman did not stop there, taking fifth in the 110m hurdles with a time of 15.0 to finish off his afternoon.

Junior Jay D. Coles improved in the long jump, leaping 22-feet, 11, just short of the 23-foot mark his coaches are aiming to see him at.

Junior Sharita Reed continued on pace with a time of 25.68 in the 200 and clinched a fourth-place spot while dropping to twelfth place in the 400, well off what she expects to do.

“She went out great, but just could not finish off the last 100 meters,” Neff said.

Freshman LaVietra Stanton finished the 100 hurdles in fourth place and also came in fourth in the long jump. With a 14.85 in the 100 hurdles, Stanton was less than one second away from having a first-place time. In the long jump, she recorded a distance of 17-06 3/4.

“She is really stepping up,” Neff said of Stanton. “She can run a low 14 in the 100-meter hurdles and jump an 18-06 in long jump.”

Freshman Heidi Poppelreiter placed third in the triple jump, notching a distance of 36-09 1/2, falling below her season best.

“She is struggling with leg pain and we are definitely considering resting her for the next two weeks so she is ready for the Big Sky,” Coach Neff said.

Another Hornet who was not able to pull out one of her best performances was senior Shawna Peterman, who placed fifth in the pole vault with a height of 10-11 3/4.

“She can vault better. She was not happy with that performance, but she is on the verge of vaulting really well. There are little technical things preventing her from vaulting what she wants to,” Neff said.

In the upcoming weeks, Neff expects her to vault over 12 feet and qualify for the championships.

Senior Windi Selle came up eight feet short of her career best that she recorded last week, marking a 161-01 in the hammer throw this past weekend.

“We have been phasing in the training. She is lifting heavier than normal and working really hard in this training phase right now,” Neff said.

Sophomore Chris Brown could not run against the gusty winds and his times suffered, recording an 11.18 in the 100 and then taking fifth place in the 200 with a time of 22.15.

But Neff assures that despite technical flaws experienced over the weekend, Brown will be ready when the Big Sky championships approaches.Senior Tim McGallian continued on his steady efforts in the discus and the hammer, placing 18th and ninth respectively.

Freshman Sabrina Kirkwood has already qualified for the championships and with a throw of 42-10 in the shot put, placing fourth amongst her competition in the Woody Wilson Classic.

The Hornets will next concentrate their efforts on their upcoming meet at Fresno State on Saturday.

“We are going to go to speed concentrate on technique, and be more precise for the Big Sky Championships,” Neff said. “The Fresno meet and our meet at home will really hone in on our athletes in expectation for the Big Sky.”