Pacific Cross Country Heads To Stanford Invitational

Stockton, Calif. – The Pacific Cross Country team travels to the Stanford Invitational Saturday, September 24, in Stanford, Calif. for its fourth race of the 2011 campaign. The team will send a limited squad, so Head Coach Josh Jones is looking for strong individual performances from his runners.

The race is a 6K event that features a lot of flat ground, and will be a good mid-season measure for the Tiger runners because the NCAA West Regional is held on the same course.

The race itself includes many fast runners with numerous Big West opponents in attendance. Jones is excited to watch his runners compete saying, "Melissa Hopper and Katie Castro are looking strong heading into the weekend. It should be interesting to see how well they perform."

Jones is looking for sophomore Hopper to make an improvement on her individual time from last years' Stanford Invitational saying, "I want to see where her time sits at the mid-season point, and compare it to what she ran last year. From there we can get an idea of where she sits as we prepare for the Big West Championships."

After the Stanford Invitational the Tigers look for a strong team effort October 8 at the Triton Classic in San Diego, Calif.