BERKELEY – California cross country will toe the line at its first meet of the 2023 season on Friday afternoon at the USF Invitational in San Francisco. The Golden Bears will cross the Bay Bridge for the 30th-annual invitational hosted by the Dons at Lindley Meadow in Golden Gate Park. The women's 6,000-meter race will kick things off at 2 p.m. PST with the men's 8,000-meter competition set to follow at 3:30 p.m.
 
The USF Invitational is a staple of the Cal cross country slate, with the Bears' history competing at the meet spanning over 20 years. Cal's men have claimed seven meet titles and five individual victories over the years, while the women have tallied six team victories and five individual first-place finishes. The most recent team titles were collected in 2019 when then-first year head coach Bobby Lockhart's Bears saw both the men's and women's squads sweep the team titles.
 
At last year's USF Invite, the men's team took home a second-place team finish and placed three student-athletes – Caden Carney, Garrett MacQuiddy and Landen Lee – in the top 10. The trio will all return to competition for the Bears this season. On the women's side, Ellie Black set the pace, slotting the Bears' first scoring points in her debut run in the Blue & Gold and leading the women's team to an eighth place overall finish.  
 
This year, seniors MacQuiddy, Gabriel Abbes and Carrick Denker will lead the men's pack and Claire Yerby will be at the helm of the women's squad. Nearly half of the 31 student-athletes on the roster are newcomers this season, with five freshmen joining the men's team and 10 newcomers bolstering the women's squad. A handful are expected to make their Cal debuts this Friday in contention for a spot on the Bears' scoresheet.
 
"The team looks good – we have a big newcomer class with 15 new faces, so there's a lot of promise there," said Lockhart, who enters his fifth season as the Bears' head coach in 2023-24. "Going out to the race this weekend, we're trying to learn a little bit more about who they are as athletes. Between our early-season workouts and this early-season race, we can get a better idea about where we are as a team. But, from what I've seen through summer training, talking with our upperclassmen and from the looks of the few workouts we've done on campus, I think we look really strong. It looks to be the best team we've assembled in quite some time. It's a matter of staying healthy, motivated and enthusiastic about our racing; but, we look really good and I'm really excited for this season."
 
"I am pumped for the first race this season," echoed sophomore Georgia McCorkle, who looks to build upon her strong freshman season after finishing with a personal-best 20:57.2 mark in the 6k at the 2022 NCAA West Regionals. "I think we have a lot of great new people and the team culture and chemistry is really good. Having a lot of young runners is cool because they're super excited and ready to compete. I'm hoping to really work together with the other runners at this race: tempo it for the first 4k and then really see what we can do in the last 2k."
 
Check back on CalBears.com for live individual results and team scores.
 
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