STANFORD, Calif. - The 38th running of the Stanford Invitational will take place on Saturday, Sept. 24, beginning at 9 a.m. The cross-country extravaganza includes 12 high school races throughout the day, as well as the collegiate men's race at 10:50 a.m. and the collegiate women's race at 11:30 a.m. The No. 3 Stanford men will take on a large field over the 8,000-meter course, while the No. 6 women will cover a 6,000-meter course. All high school races are 5,000 meters.

THE FIELD
Both Cardinal teams will be the favorite at this year's meet as neither the men's or women's race has another team ranked inside the top-25. This does not mean there will not be any competition, however, as many of the top teams in the West Region will compete. The third-ranked Stanford men are the No. 1 team in the region and it will see in-state rivals and regionally ranked teams in UCLA, California, UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara. The sixth-ranked women are also the No. 1 team in the region and the region's fifth and sixth ranked teams in Cal and San Francisco. Both Cal and USF are threats for the NCAA meet and are currently just outside of the national rankings. Other west regionally ranked teams on the women's side include Cal Poly, UC Davis, UCLA, Loyola Marymount and UC Santa Barbara. In addition, Pac-12 newcomer at the mountain region's eighth ranked team, Utah, will attend.

LAST SEASON AT THE STANFORD INVITATIONAL
A year ago, the Cardinal men entered the meet as the No. 1 team in the country, but faced stiff competition from Northern Arizona and Arkansas. David McNeil of NAU took the individual title, but the Cardinal dominated from there, scoring 31 points to best second-place Arkansas who had 43. The Cardinal trio of Elliott Heath, Jacob Riley and Chris Derrick finished 2-3-4, all with identical times of 23:22. The other scoring runners were Benjamin Johnson who was eighth and Miles Unterreiner who was 15th. The women had a much easier time, cruising to the meet title with 41 points, 45 more than second-place California. Kathy Kroeger paced the women by winning the individual title, finishing the course in 20:06. Stanford put six runners in the top-13, including Georgia Griffin and Alex Dunne in the top-10.

MEN'S NOTES
The Cardinal men have spent most of the last two seasons as the No. 1 ranked team in the country, but have fallen short at the NCAA meet. This year, Stanford is a bit under the radar with Oklahoma State being two-time defending national champions and returning most of its team. The Cardinal have all the pieces to make another title run and it will be the last chance for Derrick and Riley who are in their final year of eligibility. The Cardinal have the two front runners and incredible depth, but it will come down to the 3-4-5 runners stepping up and having big races at nationals. Stanford has as many as 10 guys in the mix to be scorers at the NCAA meet, so the competition will be fierce.

WOMEN'S NOTES
The Cardinal women are an up and coming team that will compete for the national title as well. New coach PattiSue Plumer leads a team that was recently picked to the win the NCAA title by Track & Field News. Stanford returns six of seven runners from last year's NCAA meet and has likely the top recruiting class in the country. All-Americans Kroeger and Stephanie Marcy lead the team that also will feature the top recruit in the nation, Aisling Cuffe.