The University of Montana cross country teams will host the Grizzly XC 5k Saturday morning at the Missoula Equestrian Park. The women’s five-kilometer race will start at 9 a.m., the men’s five-kilometer race at 9:30 a.m.

The starting area is at the corner of Spurgin Road and Tower Street, north of Big Sky High School. The course will follow the outer perimeter trail of the park. It is flat with a small hill, and the terrain is gravel and dirt.

Montana, which will be using the race as a fundraiser and hard training effort, will be the only collegiate team competing. The race, which costs $20 and includes a T-shirt, is open to all levels of runners.

“The community doesn’t get to see this team a lot,” UM coach Courtney Babcock said. “They hear about our races and read about the runners, so this will be an opportunity for local runners to run with and against the team. I think it’s exciting for the community to be able to come out and toe the line with the UM runners and see where they stand. I think that’s what’s fun about it.

“It’s good for both sides, really. It’s a great opportunity for our runners to connect with the community and hopefully get pushed a little by some of the people who they might not even know are out there.”

The Montana men’s team will have 11 of its 15 athletes racing. Sitting out for various reasons will be juniors Sean Clark and Steven Gimpel, sophomore Bevan Taylor and freshman Chase Anderson.

Seniors Mac Bloom and Michael Fisher and sophomore Lynn Reynolds headline the Griz in 2009. Reynolds, in 12th, and Fisher, in 18th, were both top-20 finishers for Montana at last fall’s Big Sky Conference championships. Bloom was 30th, coming in as UM’s No. 5 runner behind a pair of seniors.

Babcock also noted this week the growing expectations for three newcomers: junior Collin Fehr, formerly of the Montana Tech basketball team and the Griz tennis team, sophomore Robbie Brooks, who competed last fall for Carroll, and true freshman Quinton Decker, the 2008 Washington Class 1A cross country champion.

“Our top three guys in Lynn, Fish and Mac look to be pretty solid going into the season,” Babcock said. “Collin has been looking really good in practice, as have Robbie and Quinton. Those guys should step in right away and stick with the top guys for most if not all of the race.

“I’d like to see the men’s team go out and stay in a pack for as long as they can, especially for the first mile, even if that means the front guys holding back a little bit. I want them to try and pull the back of the pack with them and keep them in contact for a little longer than normal. If the faster guys are feeling good at that point, they can go from there.

“The race should be a chance to get the younger guys involved in the mix. That’s the main goal for this weekend.”

The Montana women will have a full team, minus junior Kara DeWalt.

Leading the way should be junior Katrina Drennen, who was sixth at the Big Sky championships as a freshman and third last fall. Expected to shadow Drennen will be sophomore Kesslee Payne, one of Montana’s top runners in 2007 as a true freshman. Payne redshirted in 2008.

Also running in the lead pack, for at least the first part of the race, should be senior Kim Tritz and juniors Brooke Andrus and Bridgette Hoenke, though Tritz is coming off an illness and Andrus off an injury.

“We have a little bit more of a gap from the top runner to the back runner on the women’s side, so we’ll probably have two packs develop,” Babcock said. “Ideally they would go out in a pack and work together. Then when they get into a race setting, they are used to having their teammates around.

“I just want them to get a good, solid effort in. They should push each other to run a little bit faster, but it shouldn’t be like an all-out race.”

Montana’s first official meet of the fall will be Saturday, Sept. 19, when the Grizzlies compete at the Montana State Invitational.