Oct. 13, 2010

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK
Saturday, Oct. 16
at Pre-NCAA Invitational
Terre Haute, Ind.
8:00 a.m. PT

Saturday, Oct. 16
at Bronco Invitational
Santa Clara, Calif.
9:45 a.m. PT

BEARS TO SEE TOP TEAMS AT PRE-NCAA INVITE: Most of the top cross country teams in the country, including the Cal men and women, will be in Terre Haute, Ind., this weekend for the Pre-NCAA Invitational hosted by Indiana State. The event will be run Saturday on the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center, also site of the NCAA Championships in November.

A total of 71 men's teams and 80 women's teams will compete, with the schools seeded into blue and white races.

At last year's meet, Deborah Maier paced the Cal women by taking 13th among the 247 runners in her event and helping the Bears to a 13th-place showing in the white division. The Cal men were 18th behind leader Kari Karlsson, who was 51st among individuals in the blue division.

BRONCO INVITATIONAL ALSO ON TAP: Many of the Cal runners who will not be making the trip to Indiana will remain in the Bay Area for the Bronco Invitational Saturday morning at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale. Racing gets underway at 9:45 a.m.

MAIER LEADS CAL WOMEN TO RUNNER-UP FINISH AT STANFORD: Competing in her first race of the 2010 season, junior Deborah Maker claimed runner-up honors at the Stanford Invitational Sept. 25, helping the Bear women to a second-place finish in the team race.

Maier covered the 6000-meter course in 20:10, just four seconds behind winner Kathy Kroeger of Stanford and 24 seconds ahead of the third-place runner. Sophomore Laurynne Chetelat (19th) and senior Rowena Tam (20th) also earned spots in the top 20.

On the men's side, senior Michael Coe made his 2010 debut and took fifth in 23:29 over 8000 meters. Senior Kari Karlsson was the only other Bear in the top 20, placing 20th in 24:18. As a team, Cal was fifth in the field of 26 teams.

REGIONAL RANKINGS: The Cal men are fifth in the West Region, while the Golden Bear women are sixth in the West.

WOMEN'S TEAM NOTES: Cal won its first two meets of the season - the USF Invitational and the Sac State Jamboree - before finishing second at Stanford ... junior Chelsea Reilly tied a course record with a 5000-meter time of 17:20 en route to capturing the women's title at the USF Invite ... Reilly's victory was the first for a Cal woman since Keena Kohl captured the same race last season ... Deborah Maier became the first Cal woman to earn first-team All-Pac-10 honors when she received the award last fall.

MEN'S TEAM NOTES: Cal's three seniors - Michael Coe, Kari Karlsson and Steve Sodaro - each made their 2010 debuts at Stanford; all three have earned all-region honors during their careers ... James Brewer, who redshirted in 2009 after transferring from the University of Bath, has returned to his native England to train for the 2012 Olympic Games in London; Brewer was a World Championships semifinalist in the 1500 meters in 2009 and he has run a 3:54.80 mile

HEAD COACH Tony Sandoval: Tony Sandoval is in his 19th season as head coach of the Cal men's and women's cross country teams and his 29th year overall at the university. Also in his fourth year as head men's and women's track & field coach, Sandoval was the head women's track & field and cross country coach at Cal from 1982-91, prior to the merger of the men's and women's programs into a single entity in 1992. He has guided the Golden Bear men's cross country team to its best finishes in school history, claiming 15th place at the NCAA championship meet in 2007 and coming in 22nd place in '08. A combined eight men's and women's runners have gained All-American status under his guidance, including Yosef Ghebray, who became the third Cal male ever to earn cross country recognition in 2008. Among the women who have benefited from his coaching are Magdalena Lewy, a U.S. Olympian in the marathon in 2008, and Alysia Johnson, the U.S. champion in the 800 meters in 2007 and '10. The Bear women finished 15th at the 1984 NCAA meet, then returned in 1988 to take ninth place.