MERCED, Calif. – University of California, Merced cross country has announced its 2025 schedule culminating with the CCAA Championships on October 24 in Chico.

UC Merced will start the season on September 13 in nearby Ceres at the Kim Duyst Twilight. A fun night under the lights of River Oaks Golf Course, the lone night race of the campaign will see the Bobcats toe the starting line at 8:30pm. Last year, now alum Jonathan Chavez and current sophomore Irene Martinez set the course program record at this exact meet.

The Bobcats will travel to Southern California the following weekend for the TMU XC Invitational in Santa Clarita (Sept. 20). Head coach Vicente Velarde puts his squad in the meet for the third year in a row and for the fourth time in the last five years.

The season continues October 10 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco as UC Merced will race at the SF State Invitational for the first time since 2019. UC Merced is one of five CCAA schools competing in the meet along with Cal State East Bay, Chico State, San Francisco State, and Stanislaus State.

Up next, the Bobcats will compete on the Baylands Regional Park course in Sunnyvale for the Bronco Invitational. UC Merced's all-time 6k and 8k all-time records were ran on this course and this will be the fourth consecutive year running this race.

UC Merced will wrap up the year at the CCAA Championships in Chico hosted by Chico State.

UC Merced, currently in its second year of a three-year transition period, will be fully eligible for NCAA Division II West Regionals and National Championships in the 2026 season.

The full schedule is here.