Arizona cross country fans will have their only chance to see the men’s and women’s teams compete in Tucson this season in tonight’s Dave Murray Invitational.

The Wildcats host the annual meet at Dell Urich Golf Course with the women running first at 5:15 p.m. and the men at 5:45.

“”The competition will be better this week,”” said UA cross country head coach James Li. “”I’m looking for our young athletes to get their feet wet in college racing, and this is gonna be a good race. I think that it’s the strongest (lineup) that we’ve had here in five years.””

Joining Arizona will be ASU, NAU, Portland State and Brigham Young on the men’s side only.

Li said he is looking for his team to build upon the success that they had in Flagstaff on Sept. 1 when both teams placed second to host NAU.

“”We didn’t run everyone in Flagstaff,”” Li said. “”I’d say we did OK. We have so many young people running, that in a relatively long race, especially for the men and at that altitude, I thought that we did a pretty good job.””

Li plans on running all of his athletes in the open meet that allows some runners to compete unattached, meaning those athletes run but do not score for the Wildcats.

“”We have a team goal for our athletes to run close together,”” Li said, “”and we need to see where they are at training-wise and get a pretty realistic picture as to what their competition is going to be when the real college season starts.””

Dylan Fitzpatrick, one of three returning runners from last season, didn’t run in Flagstaff and is just looking to get “”a race under my belt, and to run the best that I can.””

“”As a team we want to try to stay together as a pack,”” Fitzpatrick said. “”We just want to get the freshmen more experience, and I hope that this race can serve as a learning experience.””

Kassidy Rede, a freshman from Tucson Salpointe Catholic High School, said she’s excited for the home meet.

“”My high school coach is gonna be there, and I’m really looking forward to the support,”” she said. “”I think that (the support) will help encourage me to do better.””