Oct. 11, 2012

The USC women's cross country team looks to continue its impressive start to the 2012 season when they run at the Highlander Invitational hosted by UC Riverside at UCR Ag/Ops Course in Riverside, Calif. on Oct. 13 at 8:30 a.m. The 4K race is expected to be a battle as the Trojans will be competing against UC Irvine, No. 13 in the Mountain Region Wyoming and host and No. 15 in the West Region UC Riverside.

"Running a 4K two weeks before the conference meet is a good idea," said USC's head cross country coach Tom Walsh. "We've prepared all season for a 6K and this is a good chance to start to get sharp as it is just two weeks before the Pac-12 Conference meet."

USC has entered 12 runners in the race, all underclassmen except for senior co-captains Shelby Buckley and Kelly Owen. The Trojan 10 underclassmen competing are: Katerina Berdousi (Fr.), Shannon Byrne (So.), Erica Capellino (So.), Nicole Davies (Fr.), Katie DeYoung (Rs-So.), Erin Matranga (So.), Erin Robinson (So.), Kira Soderstrom (So.), Natasha Strickland (Fr.) and Jenna Tong Fr.).

"The Riverside course is a flat course on dirt and it is a good chance for us to continue our aggressive running, the same as we did at Stanford," added Walsh. "Our top three runners should benefit from the flat, fast 4K course. It will be a tough race and I'm looking forward to seeing how we compete with the two ranked teams."