BERKELEY – California cross country returns to the course at the Bronco Invitational on Saturday after a four-week hiatus from competition. Santa Clara hosts the meet at the Bylands Regional Park in Sunnyvale. The men's 8,000-meter race begins at 8:45 a.m. and the women's 6,000-meter will follow shortly after at 9:30 a.m.
 
Live results for both races can be found here.
 
The Bears last made an appearance at the Bronco Invitational in 2019 when they sent a mostly frosh-soph squad to represent the Blue & Gold.
 
The men's team took eighth place in the competition, led by Colin FitzGerald, who is a recent Cal graduate and the brother of current men's squad freshman, Rowan FitzGerald. 2022 returner Shane Bissell was next to cross the line in the 2019 race, finishing in 44th place, while fellow returner Ethan Bersley came in 69th-place and set his then-personal best.
 
On the women's side, current squad members Kalinda Reynolds and Natalie Weiner raced in the 2019 meet, with Reynolds being the second Bear to cross the line in the 6,000-meter loop.
 
Last time out in the 2022 season, both the men's and women's squads had strong showings, with nine student-athletes setting personal records at the UCR Invite on Sept. 17.
 
Ellie Black continued her standout freshman campaign on the women's side. Black has claimed the spot of Cal's top-finisher in both of the team's meets this season and set her personal best at the UCR Invite when she crossed the line in 21:01.2 to secure 31st place overall. Fellow freshman Georgia McCorkle made her collegiate debut and took Cal's second scoring slot, placing 82nd with a time of 21:46.7.
 
Leading the squad this weekend is Claire Yerby, who made her season debut at the UCR Invite and set her personal best mark of 22:04.6.
 
"In the past four weeks, we have been working on tightening up our pack and getting used to working together," Yerby said. "I think we have come a long way since our last race and we have really gotten used to working off of each other's energy and moving as a pack."
 
On the men's side, Garrett MacQuiddy paced the Bears at the UCR Invite, notching a personal-best time of 24:22.6 in the 8,000-meter loop and taking 31st place overall. Right behind him in 39th place was Landen Lee whose finishing time was 24:28, also a personal record.
 
"Our goal for this race is to gain some confidence before [the Pac-12 Championships] and to see the past four weeks of work pay off," Yerby added. "I think it will be a good opportunity to get ourselves in the mix with some good teams, and compete with some confidence."
 
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