Razorbacks Take on the UC Riverside Invitational

9.12 UC Riverside

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Following a second place finish at the Cowboy Preview the University of Arkansas women’s cross country team will travel to Riverside, Calif. for their next competition at the UC Riverside Invitational this weekend.

At UC Riverside the Razorbacks will showcase some of their returning talent in redshirt senior Kaitlin Flattmann, redshirt junior Valerie Reina and junior Regan Ward. The veteran trio will compete in the 6K invitational section of the meet on Saturday morning.

The 2014 season saw Reina finish in the top five for Arkansas at the UC Irvine adidas Invitational in her first 5,000 meter race of the year. Reina clocked a 17:33.90 as the Razorbacks fourth finisher and fourth overall runner of the meet.

Ward collected a sixth-place finish at the 2014 UCI meet crossing the line in 17:46.10.

Flattmann, saw limited action last season but has a personal best at 5,000 meters of 17:27.90 from the 2012 UCI meet which earned her a top-five finish.

Joining the three upperclassmen in the 6K race will be Safee Belbina, Devin Clark, Samantha Mohler and Kelsey Schrader.

UC Santa Barbara’s Danielle Moreno was the top finisher in the event last year in 20:25.50 helping Santa Barbara to a second place team finish.

The 5K collegiate open section will see three runners making their cross country debut as a Razorback in Oregon transfers Therese Haiss and Nikki Hiltz as well as freshman, Claudia Verstraten, out of six entered.

Top-15 finishers from the Cowboy Preview Sydney Brown (seventh), Sabrina Herrmann (14th) and Rachel Nichwitz (ninth) round out the group of six representing Arkansas in the 5K race.

This will be the Razorbacks’ first competition on a 5,000 and 6,000 meter course of the season. Last week saw Arkansas sophomore, Schrader emerge as one of the runners to watch following her top performance on Oklahoma State’s 3,000 meter course.

2015 Arkansas Cross Country Schedule
Tuesday, Sept. 1, Oklahoma State Duals | Stillwater, Okla. | 2nd of 4
Saturday, Sept. 12, UC Riverside Invitational | Riverside, Calif.
Saturday, Sept. 19, Missouri Southern Stampede | Joplin, Mo.
Saturday, Oct. 3, Chile Pepper Festival | Fayetteville, Ark.
Friday, Oct. 16, Wisconsin adidas Invitational | Madison, Wis.
Friday, Oct. 30, SEC Championships | College Station, Texas
Friday, Nov. 13, NCAA South Central Regional | College Station, Texas
Saturday, Nov. 21, NCAA Championships | Louisville, Ky.

For more information on Arkansas track and field including in-meet updates, follow @RazorbackTF on Twitter.