Alejandra Barrientos wasn’t in Palo Alto to witness her
UCLA women’s cross country teammates capture first place at
the Stanford Invitational on Saturday.
That didn’t stop her from being the first to congratulate
them.
“She called me right after she saw the results,”
coach Eric Peterson said. “She’s excited for the team,
but she’s eager to contribute as soon as possible.”
The No. 7 Bruins appear to be faring quite well so far without
Barrientos, who is still nursing a back injury that has sidelined
her for much of the year. The squad has posted back-to-back first
place finishes the last two weeks in meets that have included the
likes of No. 1 BYU and No. 2 Stanford.
“We’re one of the most improved teams in
America,” said Peterson, whose squad has enjoyed a meteoric
rise up the national rankings after checking in at No. 24 in the
preseason polls.
“We’re a deeper team than we have been in the past,
and so far it has showed in our results.”
What’s surprising about UCLA’s quick start is that
the squad’s two most established runners have not competed
yet. Barrientos will run unattached at the Triton Classic in San
Diego before deciding whether or not to redshirt her junior season,
and senior All-American Lena Nilsson may not run at all.
The Swedish native and Olympic hopeful will instead concentrate
on her training for the upcoming track and field season, and
probably will not rejoin the cross country team this season.
“It’s an Olympic year, and Lena has the opportunity
to do some incredibly special things this spring,” Peterson
said. “It would be a shame for her to waste that by coming
back for one meet, and getting injured.”
With the middle distance duo out of action, some of the less
heralded Bruins have picked up the slack.
Redshirt freshmen Ashley Caldwell and Jenna Timinsky have
provided an influx of talent to a veteran-laden team that has
improved dramatically over the summer.
“I posed a challenge last spring to our long distance
runners ““ Valerie Flores, Carmen Winant, Melissa McBain and
Allison Hall ““ to take some of the burden off our middle
distance corps,” Peterson said. “So far they’ve
exceeded my expectations.
With an arduous summer of training under their belts, the Bruins
look to be on their way to one of their best seasons in recent
memory. Although neither Stanford nor BYU brought its full roster
the past two weeks, UCLA’s victories still sent the message
that it will be a factor at the NCAA Championships in November.
“We’re better than we’ve ever been,”
Peterson said. “With or without Lena and Alejandra, I like
this team.”