Sacramento State University will hold its second annual Cross Country Invitational at Granite Regional Park on Saturday. The event will be featuring six different college teams, a few middle school teams, and as many as 10 to 12 high school teams.

The Sac State cross country team has been preparing for the Invite by working extra hard, which includes running two times a day Coach Rodney Rothoff said. Rothoff stated that this course will “give them an idea” on how the team will do for the rest of the season as well as the Big Sky Regional. Kathleen Raske, director of Sac State track and field, stated that the team has been keeping themselves “healthy as they continue to train and improve all year long.” This competition, Raske continued, should help prepare the team to “run mentally and physically for the rest of the season.”

Cross country is not like football, baseball or basketball, where the team is already ranked at the beginning of the season. The cross country team does not compete every weekend and does not hold a ranking at the start of the season either.

“Every competition opportunity is for the team to run together as a pack,” Raske said. This opportunity will help the coaches determine how well the newcomers are doing during a race, as well as how the returnees are doing when it comes to working together as a team. The team will also use this as an opportunity to prepare themselves for the Big Sky competition, which is later in the season.

Competition begins at 8:45 a.m with the eight kilometer college men run. College women will follow with a five kilometer run.