HONOLULU − After not competing in the cross country season in 2020-21, the University of Hawaii cross country team will open the 2021 schedule by hosting the Big Wave Invitational at the Kahuku Golf Course on Saturday. The meet is not open to the public and spectators will not be allowed to watch the races.

The 2021 running of the Big Wave Invitational will include University of the Pacific out of the West Coast Conference as well as all three other Hawaiian universities. The men's race will start at 7 a.m. HT with the women's race beginning at 7:45 a.m. HT.

Entering his seventh season as the cross country head coach, Tim Boyce returns five runners from the 2019 roster including A'ja-Faith Greene, Olivia Hill, Sophia Lodigiani, Sophia Morgan and Terra Stevens; Boyce also brought in seven newcomers to the squad.

Highlighting the returners are Hill, Lodigiani and Morgan. Lodigiani led the Rainbow Wahine at the UC Riverside Invitational in 2019 as a freshman and broke into the school's all-time record book in the 5,000 meters in the spring on the track.
 
Morgan also leaped into the all-time record book with the seventh-fastest 3,000-meter steeplechase time this spring.
 
Hill is the lone senior on the squad and took third in the 1,500 meters at the Oregon State High Performance Meet.
 
All time, the Rainbow Wahine have captured a total of five Big Wave Invitational championships (2001, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2018).
 
Meet #1
Who: HPU, UH Hilo, Chaminade, Pacific (Calif.)
When: Saturday, Sept. 4
Time: 7:45 a.m. HT
Where: Kahuku Golf Course