Aug. 29, 2012

Los Angeles, CA - The UCLA men's and women's cross country teams will run their first races of the season this Friday at the Nevada Chase in Reno, NV. The men's team won the meet last year and the women had a strong second place performance, so both are looking to have similar results this time around.

The Bruins will be competing in Reno alongside UC Riverside and the host team Nevada. The meet kicks off at 5:45 pm with the men's 6k and continues at 6:15 pm with the start of the women's 4k.

For the Bruin women, Katja Goldring, Kelsey Smith, Sarah Toberty, Sierra Vega, Sadee Martinez, Amber Murakami and Kristina Rivera will compete this weekend. Captain Katja Goldring headlines the female Bruin competitors, as she returns for her redshirt senior season. Last season Goldring was the number one runner in five of her six races and looks to continue that success starting this Friday. With all seven runners returning from last season, the experienced group looks to improve upon last year's results and be a player in the West region.

On the men's side, returners David McDonald, Daniel Rosales, Jacob Wood and Chase Zukerman will make their season debuts in the 2012 opener. Three Bruins, however, will be making their Bruin debuts in Reno. Transfers Patrick Douglas and Daniel Herrera, along with redshirt freshman Sergey Sushchikh, will compete for the first time in Bruins uniforms and are expected to boost an already talented bunch that is ranked 30th nationally in the preseason national coaches' poll.

The Chase is only the beginning of a sixteen-day trip for the cross country team, who will travel to Mammoth following the meet and go through a two week high altitude training program before returning to Westwood.