UCR Invitational
Date: Saturday, Sept. 27
Event: 6K Invitational / 5K Open
Time: 7:15 a.m. (PDT) / 8:25 a.m. (PDT)
Location: UCR Ag Ops Course - Riverside, Calif.

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine women's cross country team is back in action on Saturday, Sept. 27, when it heads to the Inland Empire for the UC Riverside Invitational. The Anteaters have entries in the 6K Invitational at 7:15 a.m., and the 5K Open at 8:25 a.m. Both races will be held at UCR's Agricultural Operations Course.

QUICK HITS
• UCI won the season-opening Vanguard Invitational on September 5.
• The Anteaters had the top-five individual finishers for a perfect score of 15 points.
• UC Irvine returns 14 letterwinners from last year's team that placed third at the Big West Championships.
• In the spring, the distance crew combined for 40 points to help the 'Eaters win their first Big West Women's Track & Field title.
• Last year, UCI was featured in every USTFCCCA West Region Cross Country Poll, rising to as high as No. 11.

LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine won the season-opening Vanguard Invitational 5K with a perfect team score of 15 points at Mason Regional Park on Friday, Sept. 5. Sophomore Liana Lee led the way with her first collegiate victory. Lee ran a meet-record 17:43.4 to finish four seconds ahead of classmate Anna Soares (17:47.6), who claimed runner-up honors. Soares saw an 18-second improvement on her top 5K time from a year ago. Sophomore Rachel Moen clocked in at 17:51.1 to place third, while freshman Grace Baxter came in fourth at 17:52.2. Junior Marjourie Lopez rounded out the top-five with a time of 17:54.6.

LEADING THE PACK
Junior Kaia Schmidt is slated to make her season debut after placing among the top-20 at last year's Big West Cross Country Championships. Schmidt ran a 6K personal-record 20:46.2 at the 2024 conference meet to rank ninth in program history. On the track, Schmidt was the Big West runner-up in the steeplechase and took fifth in the 5000m. Senior Makena Castillo was consistently among UC Irvine cross country's top-three last year. She ran the Anteaters' second-fastest 6K of the season when she clocked a lifetime-best 20:42.6 at the UCR Invitational. Castillo enters her first meet of the year ranked eighth among UCI's all-time 6K leaders.

ON THE RISE
Sophomores Cynthia Herrera and Daisy Penney both competed in five meets, including at the Big West Championships and NCAA West Regional, as true freshmen. Herrera closed out the 2024 season with a 6K best of 21:06.0, while Penney registered a PR 21:26.2. 

NEW FACES
Entering the mix for UC Irvine are four true freshmen and one NCAA Division I transfer. Junior Emma Hadley spent the last two seasons as a member of the cross country and track & field teams at Colorado. She is a local product from Canyon High School in Anaheim, where she was a standout distance runner, earning first-team all-county and All-CIF honors. The freshmen - Grace Baxter, Natalie Gonzalez, Avery Hutchison, and Kaitlin Kenney - also bring impressive credentials that include individual league titles, top-20 CIF State Championship finishes, and school records.

UP NEXT
UCI will head to Springfield, Oregon, for the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Friday, Oct. 10.