OREM - The Utah Valley University cross-country teams will have one final tune-up prior to the WAC Championships with a race this weekend at the eighth annual Bronco Invite. The meet, hosted by Santa Clara, will be held at Baylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale, Calif.
The men will run an 8K beginning at 9 a.m. PT, with the women’s 6K at 9:45 a.m. PT.
“We’re excited to finally get to a sea level race. Everything’s been at altitude so far,” head coach Scott Houle said. “We’re healthy for the first time all year and have everyone ready to go. We’ll see a lot of new faces with a big field, along with some other WAC competitors, so it will be fun to see where we’re at. This will give us a good feel for what we need to be prepared for at the WAC Championships.”
It will be the largest field so far this season for the Wolverines and includes second-ranked Colorado and No. 29 Stanford on the men's side. The women's race includes No. 10 San Francisco, No. 11 Stanford and No. 12 Colorado.
Competing for the Wolverine men will be Jaydn Asay, Chris Brower, Kevin Chamberlain, Chris Dorton, Seth Gutzwiller, Jason Lynch, Chuk Mitchell, Josh Monsen, Trac Norris and Trevor Sharp.
On the women’s side Caity Beddes, Taylor Gomez, Celeste Gutzman, Bridget Hazel, Brooke Hodson-Davies, Harley Murray, Emily Schmitt, Darian Sharp, McKenzie Snyder and Jessica Wilding will run for UVU.
Utah Valley last raced on Oct. 4 at the Color Country Invitational with both teams winning the event for the second straight season. The men had a perfect score and were led by Lynch, while the women, led by Darian Sharp, won a tiebreaker over Idaho State.
Saturday’s race is the final tune-up before the 2013 WAC Championships on Nov. 2 in Seattle.
Clint Burgi is the assistant athletic director for sports information at Utah Valley University. For more information on Wolverine athletics, visit WolverineGreen.com.