As the Penn State women's track and field team looks to build success in the outdoor season, it has greatly stressed preparation as the way to get there. Continuing the outdoor season with five consecutive meets in April, the Nittany Lions will mix travel and recovery weekends as part of their preparation.

This weekend will be a chance for recovery as the Lions will stay at home for the Jim Thorpe Invitational at 9 a.m. tomorrow at the Nittany Lion Track. Even though the meet is still a low-key competition, the Lions are excited to get back on their home track.

"You get your home crowd coming out to see you in action," women's track and field head coach Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "When you're running and you're wearing the blue and white and you see Mount Nittany, it's just great chemistry for everything."

The athletes will focus more on achieving individual goals rather than mounting a strong team performance. Some Lions will be looking to improve upon their disappointing season openings last week at the Raleigh Relays.

"I wasn't happy with myself [last week], and I'll be looking to improve where I started rather than looking at negatives from first meet," senior thrower Diana Bruch said.

Alford-Sullivan is pleased with the competition that will be challenging the Lions this weekend. Bucknell, Kent State and Lehigh will be coming to Happy Valley along with various unattached athletes.

Sophomore Amanda Mockbee of Bucknell, who qualified last week for the regional championship in the discus, will be one of the athletes making an appearance.

Not all of the Lions will be staying at home, however. The 4x100-meter relay team will be traveling to the Nike Stanford Track and Field Invitational beginning at 8:30 a.m. today and continuing at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow at Cobb Track and Angell Field. The team will consist of senior Sara Shoaff, junior Kamilah Salaam, sophomore Shana Cox and freshman Aleesha Barber, who will also be participating in their own individual events besides running the relay. Since they did not run last weekend, this will be their debut of the outdoor season.

More than 4,000 nationally renowned athletes are scheduled to compete at the Stanford Invitational. Cox's specialty, the 400-meter dash, will feature a tough competition between her and Angel Perkins of Baylor. National powerhouses such as Tennessee, Minnesota, Georgetown, Baylor and Stanford will make for an intense trip.

"Everybody is pretty excited to kick off," Salaam said. "It's more of a season opener to see where were at."

Whether staying home or going away, the weekend will be another important chance for the Lions to fine tune their skills and adjust to the outdoor setting.