Sept. 27, 2012

BERKELEY - The California men's and women's cross country teams head across the Bay on Saturday to compete in the 39th annual Stanford Invitational. The men's 8000-meter race will begin at 9:50 a.m. and the women's 6000-meter race will start at 10:30 a.m.

The Bears will compete against several local schools in Saturday's meet. On the men's side, No. 9 Stanford highlights the field along with San Francisco, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, Sacramento State, and UC Davis, among others. On the women's side, No. 6 Stanford will be among several local teams in the event, along with No. 18 San Francisco, Saint Mary's, Sacramento State and UC Davis, among others.

Last season, a select group of Bears competed in the Stanford Invitational, while most of the team participated in the Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota. Then-junior Renaud Poizat led Cal on the men's side with a time of 25:12 for the 8000 meters, while then-freshman Kathleen Uyttewaal paced the Bears on the women's side with a time of 21:42 for the 6000 meters.

In 2010, Cal brought its entire squad to Stanford with Deborah Maier taking second place, individually, and leading the Bear women to a second-place showing as a team. The Cal men placed fifth as a team in 2010 behind Michael Coe's fifth-place finish, individually.

Cal is coming off a strong showing last Saturday in Virginia where the women placed fourth overall and the men finished sixth in the highly-competitive event against several of the top schools from around the nation.

Several members of Cal's talented class of newcomers on both teams are expected to compete in Saturday's event. The men's roster includes nine newcomers with eight already seeing action through the season's first three meets. The women's roster includes six newcomers to the squad, with three competing in at least one of the season's first three events this fall.

Saturday's race is the fourth of eight competitions the men's and women's cross country teams will compete in this fall prior to the NCAA West Regionals in Seattle, Wash. on Nov. 10. The Bears will take next weekend off, before traveling to Madison, Wisc. for the prestigious Wisconsin adidas Invitational on Friday, Oct. 12. A select group of both squads will compete in the Santa Clara Invitational at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale, Calif. on Saturday, Oct. 13.