The Sacramento State women’s indoor track and field team starts its spring season with the respect of the rest of the Big Sky Conference, but also with a giant target on its back.

The Big Sky Conference announced early this month that the conference coaches tabbed the Sac State women to finish on top of the indoor track and field conference standing.

The Hornets finished the secret coaches’ poll with five first-place votes and a point total of 76. Northern Arizona finished in second with three first-place votes and 69 points. Weber State earned 66 total points.

Morinsola Keshinro is a senior hurdler and sprinter and a team captain. This will be her fourth season running for the Hornets.

“It’s nice to get this kind of respect from the conference,” Keshinro said. “During my time here the team has been near the bottom of the barrel, and now we are picked to win another championship.”

The Hornet women won the indoor and outdoor conference championships in 2008.

The men’s team will be attempting to win their third consecutive indoor title.

The 2008 Big Sky coach of the year, Sac State’s Kathleen Raske, appreciates the honor but knows it does put a target on the back of her young team.

“Last year’s women’s championship team was young,” she said. “We had a large number of talented freshman on the team, who now have a year’s experience.”

After a great recruiting year in 2007, Raske won the indoor and outdoor championship last year with 19 freshmen. School indoor records were set by freshmen Alicia Truesdale (60m), Renisha Robinson (800m) and Moira Robinson (Pentathlon).

Dr. Terry Wanless, Sac State’s director of athletics said the polls reflect the strength of the program.

“It is clearly an obvious reflection on our program,” he said. “The rankings are just indicative of the program and did not come as a surprise to us.”

The coaches voted the same three teams to top the conference on the men’s side, but with a different order. Northern Arizona was picked to finish No. 1 with Sac State and Weber State tied for second. Sac State did get three first place votes while Weber State only got two. The remaining four first place votes went to Northern Arizona.

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will be hosting the indoor track and field championship Feb. 27-28 in Flagstaff.

The men’s team is going to have a tougher time getting the third straight indoor championship.

Raphael McFarlene’s graduation will hurt the men’s team. At last year’s Big Sky Championship, McFarlene was responsible for 38 points in Sac State’s 141-140 victory over Weber State. McFarlene set the single meet record, winning the 60m and the 200m and coming in second in the triple

jump.

“Similar to the women’s, the men’s ranking is indicative of the respect the program has

earned,” Wanless said. “People expect us to replace our outgoing seniors with talented recruits.”

“We lost some of our really heavy hitters from last year’s championship team,” Raske said. “We lost about 60 points to graduation and academic ineligibility.”

Junior captain Jason Nelson said it is a thrill to be ranked that high despite turnover on the men’s side, but it is going to be tough with so many turnovers since last year.

“It’s nice to get this kind of respect despite the fact we lack indoor track and field faculties,” Nelson said.

Not only does Sac State lack indoor track and field facilities, none of the California schools have indoor facilities, resulting in all indoor meets being staged outside of California.

Senior A.J. Reed, another men’s captain, sees being ranked second as taking some of the pressure off the team, but also giving them a chance to exceed expectations. For him and for most of the team, indoor is just the hot stove league for the coming outdoor season.

“That really what indoor is all about, preparing for the outdoor season,” Reed said.

This isn’t true for the entire team. Co-captain Jimmy Williamson is a fifth year senior, who redshirted his freshman indoor season. A pole-vaulter from Brentwood, his season ends at the end of the indoor season this spring.

“This is it for my career at Sac State,” Williamson said. “When the indoor season ends I’m done with track and field.”