Roll out the red carpet, the women's track team is coming home.

After only one home meet during the indoor season and zero University Park appearances so far in the outdoor season, Penn State will host the Lady Lion Relays today and tomorrow.

Eliminating the travel, the team welcomes the meet on its home turf, especially at this time of the year. With the culmination of the school year, finals looming and the track season in full steam, the Lady Lions have plenty on their minds. Managing the stress can become harder than crossing the Sahara on ice skates.

"This time of the year can be a little bit stressful," acknowledges Coach Teri Jordan. "It is tough between now and finals, but right now we have great attitudes despite a lot of stress."

Recent performances have provided the team with apt reason to possess positive attitudes. Season-best performances have been mounting each week and personal bests have been no stranger.

Jenny Weaver trimmed 10 seconds off her personal best in the 5,000 meters last weekend at the Dogwood Relays, but when asked about her reaction to the 16:59 time she responded, "We weren't too happy with it. The pace was too slow."

Being content can be dangerous to an athlete, but Weaver and company need not worry about that. Weaver is aiming to knock another 20 seconds off her last 5,000-meter performance.

Another Lady Lion with a personal best achievement was Melynda Heckman. The senior, who will compete in today's heptathlon event, worked on heptathlon events at the Hoya Invite last weekend. Her strength is in the running areas, the weak link being the long jump. So what did Heckman do? She jumped a personal-best 17-.

"Right now I am in the best shape I've been in," Heckman said. "I have trained much better. With good weather I'll be shooting for a lifetime best 4,200 in the heptathlon."

Heckman admits this time of the season is difficult to juggle commitments and at the same time prevent focus from becoming blurred. Traveling takes its toll and school work builds, thus creating stress.

"Usually about now you just want to take a week off," said Heckman. "You have to keep up though, you have to keep working your hardest."

Easing up is not on the Lady Lion agenda.

"At practice (Monday) everybody was really turning it on," Jordan said.

This weekend they will deal with Syracuse, Millersville, Lock Haven and several top-notch unattached performers. Next week they will serve in the prestigous Penn Relays. There is no room for easing up."

While the Penn Relays will be displayed in front of an abundance of spectators, the Lady Lion relays may be a different story. But Jordan expects a nice draw for the event, taking into consideration it is a holiday weekend.

Weaver, on the other hand, is not even sure if people are aware of where the outdoor track is located. She would love to see a big turnout, but she does not need a crowd for motivation. Heckman feels the same.

"Everybody would love to see a lot more people," explained Heckman, "but our team is our own crowd. The team does a good job of supporting one another."

Just for the record, the track is located behind Beaver Stadium, surely people know where to find that.