Monday, October 13, 1997
UCLA finishes respectably despite loss of top runner
W X.COUNRTY: No. 1 Bruin Mortensen injured, will sit out rest of
season
By Jared Hummel
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s cross-country team put on a solid performance
at the NCAA Preview meet on Saturday despite the bad news.
Kim Mortensen, UCLA’s No. 1 runner, will be out for the season
with a stress fracture of the sacrum – a bone in the lower back.
The news came shortly before the team made the trip down to South
Carolina.
Even with Mortensen’s absence, the squad finished a respectable
10th in a 30-team field which boasted 12 schools from the Top
25.
Stanford took its all-too-familiar spot at No. 1, Wisconsin
finished second, and the University of Oregon rounded out the top
three. Stanford freshman Julia Stamps took the top spot with a time
of 16:44.
True freshman Julie Ott led all Bruin runners finishing 39th
overall. Redshirt freshman Kelly Cohn placed 47th as the second
UCLA runner across the tape.
Senior Katherina Kechris finished 55th, true freshman Katie
Nuanes placed 68th, and sophomore Melinda George finished 83rd to
round out the top five Bruin scorers.
With the NCAA Championships just six weeks away, UCLA head coach
Eric Peterson realizes that his team must turn up the intensity a
notch if they hope to qualify.
The NCAA Championships have been an elusive goal in recent
history for the Bruins, who have not made an appearance there since
1988.
Mortensen’s loss has forced each runner to reevaluate her role.
No longer can the team depend on Mortensen’s consistent first or
second place finish to buoy their score.
Despite this major setback, Peterson remains very optimistic
about the depth of his team and their resiliency.
"I think that the team is in a position to move forward and not
dwell on the things that sometimes happen in a season," Peterson
said. "I think we’re young enough and enthusiastic enough that I
think we can get past this."
So the focus shifts to the NCAA Championships. This team is no
longer referred to as "Kim Mortensen and Company" but is now just
simply "the team."
"At least we now know what we’re up against," Peterson said.
With the Pac-10 meet coming up on Nov. 1 and the NCAA West
Regional on Nov. 15, the competition is intensifying. In the next
six weeks this team will not only test their own level of intensity
but they will also test the old adage "adversity makes you
stronger."