People often say that throughout a season, a team will take on the characteristics of its coach.

The Arizona cross country program has a bit of a head start in that department.

Without even competing in a meet, many of the members of the Wildcat cross country team already have something in common with their coach.

On Saturday, head distance coach James Li will make his UA cross country debut along with 10 out of the 17 team members competing.

"This is the season opener, and it's an important meet for us. There will be a lot of good runners and teams to test us." - James Li Head distance coach for UA cross country

"We have an extremely young group of athletes," Li said. "(The Aztec Invitational) will be a great opportunity for our team to show off their talent at the Division I level."

Unlike most of his team members, however, Li has ample experience at the Division I level. Li came to Tucson this summer after eight years at Washington State, the last four of which he was the head distance coach.

Li said he has really enjoyed his first few months in Tucson.

"The conditions to run here are great," Li said. "Arizona is a great school that has a great tradition."

The Wildcats will travel to San Diego to compete in the Aztec Invitational at Balboa Park on Saturday for their first meet of the season.

Although this is only the first meet of the year, Li stressed the importance to get off to a good start.

"This is the season opener, and it's an important meet for us," Li said. "There will be a lot of good runners and teams to test us."

The men will begin the competition with the 8K race at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning against intrastate rival Northern Arizona and several other southern California teams.

The men's team is led by sophomore Mark Anderson, who finished seventh at last year's national competition.

The Wildcats also welcome the return of sophomore Josh Ludwig, junior Wade Juntunen and senior Eric Bohn.

On the other hand, the women's team will send out seven out of the nine runners competing at the Division I level for the first time, and nine of the teams' 12 members are true freshmen. The three exceptions will be junior Beth Hoge, and seniors Harisimran Khalsa and Nicole Gurnicz.

The women begin the 5K race tomorrow morning at 8:45 a.m. and will compete against schools like Arkansas, Southern California and San Diego State.

This is something that doesn't scare Li too much.

"They (the team) are inexperienced, but I've seen it before when young athletes step up and perform well at big competitions," Li said.