Arizona cross country’s second meet, also the first (and only) home meet of the season, the Dave Murray Invitational, is today at the Del Urich Golf Course.
The men’s team will begin at 5 p.m., running 4.25 miles, almost 7,000 meters, while the No. 5 women’s team will begin at 5:45 p.m. and run three miles, almost 5,000 meters.
The other teams competing at the Dave Murray Invitational are: ASU, NAU and Grand Canyon University. These teams will compete against the UA in the Division I section.
Meanwhile, Mesa Community College, Pima Community College, Estrella Mountain Community College, and Western New Mexico will run in the open section. Other competitors are the Aftershock Distance Club, Pima Track Club, Toyota Women, and the Wildcat Running Club.
On the women’s side, sophomore Kayla Beattie, senior Meg Bellino, junior Stephanie Bulder, junior Daylee Burr, sophomore Molly Callahan, junior Nicci Corbin, junior Clea Formaz, freshman McKenna Gaffney, senior Elvin Kibet, freshman Maria Larsson, senior Erin Menefee, junior Kate Penney, junior Hanna Peterson and senior Amanda Russell will run for Arizona.
For the men, freshman Matthew Beer, junior Kenji Bierig, freshman Michael Cox, freshman Jeff Gautreau, sophomore Dylan Hopper, freshman Collins Kibet, sophomore Jonas Legernes, junior Sam Macaluso, freshman Travis Thorne, junior Braden Timpe, freshman Brendan Tinoco, junior Thomas Valente and sophomore Sam Willis will run for the UA.
The men are ranked No. 10 in the west region poll.
This meet is also a “Beardown Game” a unity event for all student athletes to attend one game together as a team for every sport, no matter which sport it is. The Student Athlete Advisory Committee started the initiative.
In the first meet, The George Kyte Classic, about two weeks ago in Flagstaff, Ariz., the women’s team took home first place with 33 points and the men’s team took home third place with 73 points.
From the women’s team, Beattie and Larsson finished 1-2 in the meet. The Wildcats moved up to No. 5 from No. 7 in the preseason rankings as a result.
From the men’s team Kibet came in first for Arizona and fourth-place overall. Second for the men’s team was Beer, who took 15th place overall.
Del Urich Golf Course is located at 600 S. Alvernon Way, near Hi Corbett Field, home of the Arizona baseball team.
— Follow Makenzie Thiel @makenziethiel
