Aug. 19, 2011

SAN DIEGO, Calif.- The men's and women's cross country team kicked off their training camp seven miles away from the US Olympic Training Center in Bonita, California. It was an exciting early morning that marked the first day of training for the young harrier teams. Head Coach Will Guarino was excited to welcome his team and put them to the test to measure their training development over the summer.

On the first day of camp there were several of new faces. On the men's side, the Toreros have added four new runners. One that made an impression on the first day is Jonathan Garcia from Damien High School. The women will also lean on six new athletes to develop and further build their distance program. Lauren Rice and Taylor Paschen will be looking to push the top returners in the months to come.

The Toreros women will look to 2010 second-team All-WCC performer, junior Kristy Koenes (Canyon High School, Anaheim, CA) to help set the pace for the Torero pack, while the men will look to junior Erik Anderson.

"Erik has proven to be a very special runner," said Guarino. "He blossomed his freshmen year and was the eighth-fastest 10,000m runner in his age group at the USATF Nationals in 2010. He has proven to have recovered well from his broken foot injury at the WCC championship."

The Toreros will have their first race on Labor Day weekend at the Fullerton Invite on September 3, 2011.