The Sacramento State Hornets track and field team opens up its first competition at home, trying to bring another championship to the nest. Though the seasons are different from indoor to outdoor, the team is confident with the advantage of practicing solely on an outdoor track.

“Of course we are always looking to do well at our home competition and home track,” track and field coach Kathleen Raske said.

In the outdoor season new events are introduced like the Hammer, Javelin, steeple chase, 400 meter hurdles and the 4×100 meter relay, which was not run in the indoor season.

The Sac State track and field team is also picking up runners for these events that were not able to compete in the indoor season as well.

“We are excited to see some of our new athletes compete in their events for the outdoor season since they were not able to compete in the indoor,” Raske said.

For seniors in their final season, they are looking to do well with a young team. With a key loss in senior Big Sky MVP Raphael McFarlane, who completed his eligibility in the indoor season, they are looking for other athletes to fill in the gaps.

Jody Johnson, the second half of the senior duo (McFarlane) has one more season in him, in which he will be used all across the track for this year.

“I think we will do pretty good this year. Even though we lost Raphael, we have a lot of strong athletes that can score when it comes down to conference time,” senior sprinter Alex Jackson said.

The track team’s advantage is that they are the only team in the Big Sky Conference that practices year-round on an outdoor track. The team winning indoor with no indoor facility made a big statement in the conference, Raske said.

“There will be no problem transitioning from indoor to outdoor. In fact, we will probably have an easier time than anybody in the conference since our facilities are solely outdoor,” senior sprinter and jumper Tyreina Henley-Henderson said.

Since the lady Hornets did not lose anybody, they feel that the sky is the limit for them winning outdoor. Keeping their focus on the indoor championship is their motivation for the outdoor season.

“I think we are going to win Big Sky for outdoor, too. The only seniors on the girls side are me and Lori (Vaught). As long as we stay healthy and keep practicing hard, we can take it again,” Henley-Henderson said.

As its conference championship is still a little ways away, the team still prepares for it every day it steps on the track. The team has a couple of meets at home such as the Hornet Invite and the Sac State Nike Elite meet at the end of March.

Those two meets, plus practice at Hornet Stadium, will get the team ready since the team’s conference championship is at home in Sacramento on its track.

“We are back into the beginning of training from square one. All of training will add up and be well rewarded for the conference championship,” Raske said.

David Green can be reached at [email protected]