OREM, Utah - After having two weeks off from their first meet, the Utah Valley University men's and women's cross country teams look to continue their season as they return to Riverside, California, for the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 14th.
 
The race this weekend kicks off with the Women's 6K Invitational at 8:30 a.m. MT/7:30 a.m. PT followed by the Men's 8K Invitational at 9:05 a.m. MT/8:05 a.m. PT. Each school participating will send five to nine of their top runners to compete. The remaining runners will end the meet with the Women's 5K Open (9:40 a.m. MT/8:40 a.m. PT) and the Men's 8K Open (10:10 a.m. MT/9:10 a.m. PT).
 
All races will take place at the UCR Agricultural Operations Course and results can be found online at finishedresults.com or on the Finished Results app for iPhone or Android.
 
The Wolverines will enter the meet this weekend refreshed and ready to compete after both teams saw success at the UVU Vivint Invitational two weeks ago. The men's team won the opening meet, while the women's team earned runner-up honors behind in-state foe Southern Utah.
 
Sophomore Hawk Call paced the Wolverines at the Vivint Invitational by winning the season-opening meet with a time of 15:38.2. Coming in a close second was junior Geofrey Kemboi with a time of 15:44.5. The race consisted of Call and Kemboi running back-to-back, but ultimately Call pushed his way past Kemboi to claim his first collegiate victory.
 
On the women's side, sophomore Maddie Bench Empey paced UVU and finished fifth overall, clocking in a personal best of 18:50.9. Following suit was freshman Kate Richardson in seventh place (19:10.4) and senior Savannah Neuberger in eighth place (19:12.5).
 
"I'm looking forward to this Riverside meet," said UVU head coach Scott Houle. "This will be our seventh straight year going there. It's traditionally a great meet for us. It's good for us to get out and compete in a different region and we're looking forward to Saturday."
 
Both teams saw success at last year's UCR Invite by posting second-place finishes. Returning top athletes from the men's side include Kevin Lynch, who took first place overall at the meet last year, as well as Kemboi, who also finished in the top-10 by placing ninth. 
 
Returning from the women's team is Hannah Branch who led the team by placing 12th overall last year. There's also the return of sophomore's Megan Nielsen, Mazzie Melaney, and Maggie Zwahlen, who all finished in the top-30.
 
"This will take us to sea level which is definitely a bonus for an altitude team," added Houle. "It's the first big meet, the first real test for the team this season. We hope to have all main runners healthy and ready to go on Saturday."
 
The Wolverines will have a three week break after the UCR Invite before heading into a busy October, where the men's and women's team will compete each week in the month. They kick-off the busy stretch at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 4th at 11 a.m. MT.