By Michael Sneag
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s cross country team finished fifth at the
Western Regional Championships in Tuscon, Ariz., and qualified for
the NCAA Championships to be held in South Carolina on Nov. 19 by
earning one of the 13 at-large bids from the NCAA committee. The
men finished ninth and did not qualify, but senior Bryan Green did
make the NCAAs as an individual qualifier.
The women’s team was led by sophomore Valerie Flores, who
finished 23rd with a time of 22:07, followed closely by junior
Elaine Canchola (27th, 22:12) and true freshman Alejandra
Barrientos (31st, 22:21).
“We got a great race out of Valerie,” head coach
Eric Peterson said. “It was the first time in her career that
she had finished first as a Bruin. She was very competitive, very
tough and raced a strong race and we needed that from
her.”
“We did finish fifth, but overall I was not happy because
we still didn’t run our best. We are a good team, not a great
team, and that is frustrating because I know that we can do
more.”
Canchola was the only Bruin with the experience needed for
running in such a big meet, and unfortunately it showed. The team
had an incredible start, and at the two-minute mark, all seven
Bruins were in the 13th through 20th places. But nerves and
inexperience caused a slight panic as the Bruins tried to settle
into the race a bit too early and consequently lost their
momentum.
“With a more experienced team, they would have let the
pace slow down on its own,” Peterson said. “They tried
to slow it down themselves and forced it to happen instead of
letting it just happen naturally. After creating a wonderful start,
they followed that up with a mental error.”
On the men’s side, senior Bryan Green (22nd, 31:49) and
true freshman Ben Aragon (25th, 32:02) both ran well. Finishing in
the top 25 was good enough for both to earn All Western Region
honors, the second straight year for Green and an impressive feat
for Aragon, who was running in his first 10,000 meter race ever.
Green’s NCAA invite is his second in a row.
“Bryan made a great effort at getting into the top 10, and
although he faded toward the end, he was tough enough to hang on
for 22nd place, and that ended up being good enough to get him to
NCAAs, which is a great accomplishment,” Peterson said.
For the rest of the men’s team, the season is over but
they ran well and managed a top 10 finish, something impressive
considering all the injuries and inexperience that the team has had
to deal with all year.
“I was very happy for the guys team,” Peterson said.
“We finished ninth and that is an indication of how kids came
with a level head and were able to run very hard in a very
competitive field.”