Oct. 25, 2012

The young USC women's cross country team will compete this weekend at the 2012 Pac-12 Championships hosted by UCLA at Robinson's Ranch Golf Course in Santa Clarita, Calif. Seven of the eight runners USC is sending to the meet are underclassmen.

Joining senior captain Shelby Buckley are sophomores Erica Capellino, Erin Robinson and Kira Soderstrom and freshmen Katerina Berdousi, Nicole Davies, Natasha Strickland and Jenna Tong. Even USC's alternate is an underclassman, as sophomore Erin Matranga will be there ready to compete in the race if needed.

"I'm excited to see if we can keep improving this weekend at the Pac-12 Championships," said USC cross country head coach Tom Walsh. "Each race this season the girls have gotten better and better. Now it is time to see if they can peak at the Pac-12 Championships. Erica (Capellino) and Shelby (Buckley) are the leaders of the team and hopefully they can lead us on Saturday in a meet with six of the top 24 ranked teams in the country. All of the girls are excited for the challenge."

The Pac-12 Conference is widely regarded as the toughest conference in the country with four of the top six and six of the top 24 ranked teams. Currently the ranked Pac-12 teams are No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Stanford, No. 5 Arizona, No. 6 Washington, No. 21 Colorado and No. 24 UCLA. Last season conference newcomer Colorado won the team title with 50 points.

The 6K race will be run on the Mountain Course at Robinson's Ranch Golf Course with the women making two 2-K loops and two 1-K loops. The course consists of rolling fairways, no elevation gain and several sharp turns. Tape-delayed coverage of the championships will air on the Pac-12 Networks on the following dates and times: Nov. 5 at 6 p.m., Nov. 6 at 7 p.m., Nov. 7 at 11 p.m. and Nov. 8 at 6 a.m. and 11 a.m.