While the rest of the Longhorns prepare for a hometown meet, nine distance runners will take a trip to Walnut, Calif. to compete in the Mt. SAC Relays on Thursday and Friday.

The Longhorns will open up their campaign with the three events on Thursday. Patrick McGregor and Brady Turnbull, both part of the relay teams that dominated the Texas Relays, will compete in the 1,500-meter open division. The 10,000-meter run then follows, with Rory Tunningley entered in the invitational field and Mark Pinales running in the Olympic development race.

The action will then continue Friday night with the 1,500-meter invitational, which will feature Kyle Merber and Trevor Van Ackeren. Van Ackeren has a good shot at winning, and will be motivated after coming in second behind teammate Austin Bussing in the same event at the Texas Invitational.

Three entrants will then finish off Friday and the Longhorns’ California excursion with the 5,000-meter run. Ryan Dohner will run in the invitational, Daniel Vertiz will run in the open and Craig Lutz is entered in the Olympic development race.

The rest of the Longhorns will stay at home in preparation for the Longhorn Invitational, a one day, non-scored meet, hosted by Texas that is scheduled for Saturday at Mike A. Myers Stadium.