Coming off a bye week, the Sacramento State track and field team is refueled and ready to go.

The Hornets used the extra week of practice to help prepare for competition as they get ready to host the Mondo Mid-Major Challenge Thursday through Saturday, which is featuring 10 teams.

“The bye week…I find as a great little relief to be fully ready to go all out at the Mondo,” said sophomore sprinter and hurdler Paul Lyons.

Sac State track and field head coach Kathleen Raske said she found the week off to be helpful because it gave the team two full weeks to focus solely on training, which is a nice way to regroup in the middle of season.

“Since we have a bye week, we’re doing a really nice segment of training,” Raske said.

Lyons will be competing in the 110-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles and the 4×400 relay. He said having more time to prepare for the meet has helped execute certain target areas of his performance. 

“We have had a lot more focus on specific event areas and more late race preparation this week,” Lyons said. “I have seen some improvements as well, which is setting a good tone for this weekend’s meet.”

Junior thrower Erinn Jones said she finds the bye week an interruption in the season schedule.

“I’m just ready to compete. I don’t really like bye weeks,” Jones said. “I like competing and having a week off is stressful. I just want to throw.”

Jones recorded a shot put mark of 50-04.00 (15.34) at the last home meet on March 16, which made her second in school history and the leader of the Big Sky this season.

Jones will be participating in the shot put, discus throw and hammer throw when the field events take place on Friday and Saturday. Although Jones does not like the bye week, she said she is making the best of her time off.

“I’m just trying to focus on little things so I can perfect my technique,” Jones said.

Raske said she is glad to be hosting this meet because the familiar territory will help exude the team’s performance.

“Everything is comfortable and there is a lot of support from friends (and) family,” Raske said. “It helps players to just relax, be familiar, sleep in their own beds and have more support than they would on the road.”

Lyons said he is looking to break some personal records at the meet and has a goal time of 13.8 seconds in the 110 hurdles, 51 seconds or under in the 400 meter hurdles and a new school record in the 4×400 meter relay.

“The Mondo meet is one of my personal favorite meets of the year,” Lyons said. “It is a great (meet) to run some really fast times.”

On the women’s side, senior runner Sakya Bolton will be competing in the 4×100 meter relay and the 100-meter hurdles.

Portland State will be one of the teams at the invitational and Bolton said she has her eye on the Vikings because they are conference rivals.

“My coaches said this year they have a really good outdoor team so it’ll be good to see what they do (this) weekend in compared to our team,” Bolton said.

Portland had nine Big Sky qualifying marks for outdoor championships at its last competition.

“I always like better competition,” Raske said. “I like teams that can give us a run because it is going to help us to be better.”

The Mondo Multi event will start with the decathlon and heptathlon on Thursday and end with relays on Saturday at Hornet Stadium.

“We want to have a really good home meet because it’s a great facility and we have great competition,” Raske said. “There is nothing like competing at home on a great track.”

Jillian can be reached on Twitter at @jillian1035