Bears Set For Pac-12 Championships
BERKELEY -- Championship season opens Friday, Oct. 29 for the Golden Bears' cross country teams as they make their way to the 2021 Pac-12 Championships. The University of Utah will host the meet at the Regional Athletic Complex in Salt Lake City. The men's 8,000-meter race will begin at 10 a.m. MT, with the women's 6,000-meter race to follow at 11:00 a.m. MT.
California will be facing a tough field against top-ranked teams. The men's race features nine teams with five of them ranked in the NCAA West Region, including top-two ranked Stanford and Oregon. The women's squad will face eleven teams, seven of which are ranked in the NCAA West Region. Stanford will be looking to defend both their men's and women's team titles from the 2020 Pac-12 Championships.
The Cal men's team is coming off an eighth-place finish at the FSU Pre-Nationals Open on Oct. 15. Garrett MacQuiddy will make his fourth competition appearance this season, following his 16th-place finish at Pre-Nationals where he set a personal best in the 8,000-meters with a time of 24:41.6.
Colin FitzGerald is also set to toe the line Friday for the Blue & Gold. FitzGerald set his personal record in the 8,000-meter race at last year's Pac-12 Championships. He crossed the line in 24:36.1.
Gabriel Abbes will also be competing in Salt Lake City to continue his 2021 campaign. Abbes looks to build upon his performance at last year's Pac-12 Championships, where he finished the race in his personal best time of 24:00.6.
On the women's side, Erin Archibeck will be making her debut as a Golden Bear at the Pac-12 Championships. Archibeck joined the Bears this season following her impressive undergrad performance at Notre Dame. Archibeck placed 12th at the ACC Cross Country Championships in 2020 where she ran the 6,000-meter race in her personal best time of 20:35.5.
Mina Anglero returns to action Friday after making her season debut at Pre-Nationals. Anglero was the top Cal finisher for the women's team, claiming 46th in the Open race.
Meredith Corda also returns to the track for the women's squad, making her fourth appearance in competition this season. Corda was the top women's team finisher at both the USF Invitational on Sept. 4 and the Sacramento State Invite on Oct. 1.
The Pac-12 Championships will air live nationally on the Pac-12 Network. Live results can be found on CalBears.com.
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