PROVO -- With a fourth place finish at the Great America last weekend, the Cougars now prepare themselves for the Pre Mountain West Conference this Saturday, in San Diego California.
For the Cougars a young and talented group of runners will make the trip to San Diego.
"We're leaving some of our athletes at home," women's coach Patrick Shane said. "This gives them a chance to stay home and train harder and prepare themselves better."
Athletes who will be competing for the Cougars will be Kristy Barrus, Julie Cameron, Lisa Frischknecht, Sarah Ingebretsen, Allison Passey, Lisa Pratt, Carolyn Quebe and Jenna Taylor.
Of the eight runners competing this weekend, Pratt is the lone senior among the team and Barrus is the only sophomore. The six remaining runners are all freshmen.
"This gives us a chance to develop some of our younger runners," Shane said. "It's a good time to test their abilities."
Shane described the course as an interesting one for the fact it has a significant up hill near the beginning and a significant down hill.
"I'm more concerned with the down hill portion of the race," Shane said. "It's narrow and as a pretty steep grade to it."
Pratt, who's the only senior making the trip, will challenge the course and provide Shane with an idea of how he wants to prepare and strategize his team when they return October 30, for the MWC Championships.