For Young Cross Country Team, USF Invite Offers First Opportunity

For freshman Alison Greggor, this Saturday has been a long time coming.

Greggor will join the Cal cross country team when it starts off the 2006 season at the USF Invitational in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on Saturday.

"I am just excited to get a chance to finally wear a Cal jersey," she said. "It's my first college race."

There almost couldn't be a more ideal place for the first-year to jump-start her career with the Bears. The women's 5K race kicks off at Speedway Meadow at 9:15 a.m. The men will run a 10K starting at 10 a.m.

For Cal, the USF Invitational is a chance to size up the locals. For some,

particularly NCAA hopefuls Bridget Duffy and Rebecca Yau, it is also a chance to gauge the team's conference competition.

Though top Pac-10 teams such as Arizona and Stanford both appeared at last year's USF Invitational, Bears coach Tony Sandoval classified the meet as low key.

"It's a warm-up meet," he said.

In the past, the lineup has included San Francisco, San Jose State, Santa Clara and St. Mary's. The Wildcats are the only out-of-state team.

"I think they come to this meet to escape the heat in Tuscon," senior Duffy said of Arizona.

Duffy is expected to pace tomorrow's race, along with Yau. Yau, a junior, snatched 13th place at last year's competition, finishing with a time of 18:54.6.

This will also be an opportunity for the Bears to give the younger runners a chance to race, and with a particularly young squad on the women's side, an important occasion to stretch their legs. For Cal's freshmen women, including Greggor, it is also their first taste of collegiate competition.

"For younger people, it's a good situation for them to get their feet wet," Sandoval said.

In addition, the Bears will be able to see how they run as a team for the first time. Last year, Cal ran only seven members of its team, not enough to produce a team score. This year, the women will run a full team, including most of their top runners. Joining them on the track will be a mix of top competitors and secondary runners from the men's team.

The challenge for the Bears will be to pace themselves early in the season, while still making a strong showing against stiff competition like the Wildcats, who finished second behind the eventual national champion Stanford at last year's meet.

"Last year we had mostly the B squads run and people placed pretty high," Duffy said. "Rebecca and I are looking to run up front."

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