David Torrence has no grand plans to replace Sydney Maree in the record books Saturday at the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City. The 23-year-old Cal grad simply wants to complete his first full season as a young professional track athlete with a strong season-ending performance.

Twenty-eight years after the New York road mile event began with Maree running 3 minutes, 47.52 seconds _ still a Fifth Avenue record _ the event is loaded with America's best middle-distance runners.

``We have a world-class field just in the U.S. alone,'' said Torrence, referencing the trio of Bernard Lagat, Leo Manzano and Lopez Lomong, all 1,500-meter finalists at the World Championships last month in Berlin.

The field also includes Matt Tegenkamp, runnerup in this race three years ago but better known as a sub-13-minute man in the 5,000 meters.

``I don't know if I can surprise anyone with who I am, but maybe with how fit I am,'' said Torrence, who ran a lifetime-best of 3:56.75 in Toronto on June 11, weeks after pocketing a $14,000 check for winning the first USA 1 Mile Road Championship in Minneapolis.

``Anything under 3:55 would be good for me,'' said Torrence, 10th at this race in 2008 and rated 10th among American milers this season. ``The flip side is all those guys have been racing a long time at a high level.''

Torrence is not among the U.S. elite, but he's making strides. Two years after breaking Don Bowden's 50-year-old Cal record in the mile, he

picked up a sponsorship from Nike this year, hired an agent and ran six mid-level races in Europe.

He shared an apartment in Leuven, Belgium with Cal junior Michael Coe and ex-Golden Bear star Bolota Asmerom, and recorded personal bests in both the 800 and 1,500.

Former Iona star Tim Bayley, a native of Brighton, England now living in Lafayette, also will run Saturday. The women's race includes San Francisco's Shannon Rowbury, a 2008 Olympian and runnerup here last year.