The No. 1 men’s and No. 9 women’s cross country teams head to Seattle this weekend for the Pac-10 Championships.
The Cardinal men enter the race as the team to beat, but will have to battle adversity in order to have success this weekend. Stanford will be without veteran runners Brendan Gregg and Benjamin Johnson as they recover from injury. The team hopes to have Johnson back in time for nationals, while Gregg is most likely done for the duration of the cross country season.
Top runners Chris Derrick, Elliott Heath and Jake Riley, who have comprised the Cardinal’s top three finishers in every race this season, will try to lead Stanford to its first conference title since 2005.
Sophomore star Kathy Kroeger, Stanford’s top runner in each race thus far, leads the women’s squad. The Cardinal recently jumped in the rankings and is among the 10 best teams in the nation for the first time this season.
However, conference rivals No. 2 Oregon and No. 6 Arizona join Stanford in this group. Both teams will make the Cardinal’s run at its first Pac-10 crown since 2007 a tough challenge.
The women’s race is set to begin at 10 a.m., with the men scheduled to start at 11 a.m.