This weekend, the Trojan cross country team can be found in Southern California as they make the short trip to Santa Clarita Saturday to compete in the Master’s University Invite.

The meet will be the third competition for the squad and roughly marks the halfway point of the season, with just two more meets remaining before the Big Ten Championships in Madison, Wisconsin, on Oct. 30.

On Saturday, the team will run the six-kilometer distance for the first time this season. They previously ran a four-kilometer race and a five-kilometer race at the Pepperdine Waves Invite and UC Riverside Invitational, respectively. A six-kilometer race is the standard distance for postseason competitions as well as the distance the squad will run for all remaining meets.

With the weather expected to be around 80 degrees in Santa Clarita when the race begins, this meet could provide a true test for the young squad as they compete at a new distance in less-than-ideal conditions.

According to USC Athletics, freshmen Alexandra Sparno, Emilia Gonzalez, Ivanka Malysheva, Monserrat Santillan Silva and senior Paige Unger are expected to compete in the invite. Those same five athletes made up the Trojan team at the Pepperdine Waves Invite Sept. 4, the squad’s first competition of the year.

At the UC Riverside Invitational on Sept. 19, Sparno, Malysheva, Santillan Silva and Unger competed in their second consecutive meet, while senior Isabella Duarte made her season debut as the fifth athlete representing the Trojans.

Santillan Silva has been the best-performing athlete of the bunch throughout the season, placing second overall at the Pepperdine Waves Invite and fourth overall at the UC Riverside Invitational. 

Although the Master’s University Invite has not released the official individual entry list for Saturday’s race, Santillan Silva looks to be slated in a solid position for another strong performance this weekend. Santillan Silva and the rest of the Trojans will compete against many familiar foes this weekend, including Occidental College, Pomona-Pitzer, CSU Bakersfield, Westmont College and Pepperdine University.

In USC’s opening meet, Santillan Silva completed the four-kilometer distance in a time of 13:41.4, 24.2 seconds behind Pepperdine senior Lizzy Crawford. The gap between Santillan Silva and Crawford will be interesting to watch this weekend, especially to see if it will grow or shrink as a result of the six-kilometer distance.

However, Santillan Silva isn’t the only Trojan athlete trying to improve on previous results. The entire USC team has a chance at revenge against Westmont and Pepperdine, two schools that have both respectively finished one place ahead of the Trojans this season: Pepperdine did so at its own invite, and Westmont finished with 25 points less than the Trojan cross country squad at Riverside two weeks ago — fewer points being better.

Malysheva finished second on the Trojan squad in each of her last two meets, completing her last five-kilometer race with a time of 18:25.6. Saturday will be the freshman’s first race at the six-kilometer distance in college.

The gap between the expected third and fourth runners on the team — Sparno and Unger, respectively — will be another potential point of interest at the six-kilometer distance. In the Trojans’ first meet, Unger beat Sparno by only 3.8 seconds before finishing just under a minute ahead of Sparno in the five-kilometer race during the second competition.

Since five runners are required to contribute to a team’s score in cross country, Gonzalez, the team’s fifth runner going into the meet, will likely need to close the gap between her and Sparno if the Trojans hope to contend. Gonzalez finished 1:32 behind Sparno at the Pepperdine Waves Invite Sept. 4.

Earlier this season, Sean Brosnan, the assistant director for distance and cross country for the Trojans, told the Daily Trojan in an interview that a few USC athletes were dealing with injuries, and that he hoped to have those athletes back competing soon.

Duarte has since made her season debut at the UC Riverside Invitational, but junior Holli Prest and freshman Abigail Feldman have not yet competed in a meet this season. Prest was named on the Big Ten Women’s Cross Country Runners to Watch list before the season began, indicating that her return could provide a huge boost to the Trojan squad.

The next opportunity for Prest and Feldman to compete for USC will be Oct. 9 at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Oregon.

For now, the five healthy and competing Trojans will race in the Master’s University Invite Saturday at 8:45 a.m. in Santa Clarita, California.