Several of the Dons' top runners will make their season debut Saturday during the West Coast Conference Preview at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale.
After sitting out last month's USF Invitational,
Elena Burkard,
Jana Soethout,
Kate Jamboretz and others will race Saturday on the same 6K course where the conference championship will be held in November.
"Only one or two women on our women's team have run on that course," said head coach
Helen Lehman-Winters. "For them, it will be a great tool to get familiar with the course layout."
For Burkard and Jamboretz, Saturday is their first race since leading the Dons to an 18th place finish at the 2013 NCAA Cross Country Championship.
The Dons opened their season on Aug. 30 by placing third at the USF Invitational. Freshman
Haley Dorris led USF in her first collegiate race, finishing the 5K course in 18:07.7, which was good enough for eight place.
Sophomores
Daryl Phill and
Ashley Moffett followed Dorris across the finish line, placing 10th and 12th.
The Dons debuted several other freshmen during the invitational.
Kelsey Nielsen placed 14th with a time of 18:30.8, which exceeded her personal best in the 5K of roughly 19:15, according to Lehman-Winters. Fellow freshmen
Erin Thomas placed 18th and
Elise Tello placed 28th.
Sophomore
Sophia Volk finished 20th with a time of 19:19.0.
When WCC schools get their first look at the Dons new squad on Saturday, they'll see a roster consisting of several more underclassmen after graduating four key runners from last season.
While the results of Saturday's race won't count toward the regular season standings, Lehman-Winters says that won't stop schools hoping to end USF's run of five consecutive conference titles from racing hard and sizing up the Dons this weekend.
"I'm sure LMU is very excited to match up against us," Lehman-Winters says. "They probably have the best team they've had in a long time. The conference is as strong as its ever been. We graduated a lot of our top kids, so it's one of those situations where other teams feel like they have a chance."
Portland and BYU, which are expected to perform well this season, are among five WCC schools not competing in Saturday's preview.
Schools competing in the preview at 9 a.m. include Cal Poly, Holy Names, Nevada, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Pepperdine, and Santa Clara.Â
