Sept. 7, 2006

LAS VEGAS - UNLV cross country opens its season Saturday at the UC Irvine Invitational, held at Central Park in Huntington Beach, Calif., and it will be the opening race of the year for the Rebels and the first meet for first-year head coach Tony Houchin.

"I am excited to go to our first meet," Houchin said. "I am very interested to see how the team reacts in a meet situation."

Leading the Rebels will be sophomore returner Jenni Shearer, who paced the squad in every meet last season as a true freshman. She will be joined be fellow sophomores Ernestine Johnson and Ali Ainsworth. The team will be rounded out by newcomers Gabrielle Bonito, Calisha Cook, Laura Lundin and Claire Schreiner.

The race gets underway at 9:00 a.m. (PT) with the women's 5,000 meters followed by the men's five-mile.