Talk about a change of conditions.
Thursday afternoon the UCLA women’s and men’s cross
country teams left balmy Southern California for frigid Pullman,
Wash. to race in the Pacific 10 Conference Championships held
Saturday.
Despite the temperature, 32 degrees fahrenheit at the beginning
of the afternoon race, the women earned themselves a third-place
finish with 79 points. The men raced to a seventh-place finish with
150 points.
The women were led by senior Valerie Flores who placed seventh
overall, running the 6,000 meter course in 21:55, earning her
All-Conference honors.
“This is a big improvement for me,” Flores said.
“Last year I placed 27th at the Pac-10 finals.”
Overall, five women placed in the top-25. Redshirt freshman
Ashley Caldwell was 14th (22:17), followed by true freshman Alison
Costello, who finished 15th with 22:19. Senior Melissa McBain and
junior Carmen Winant completed the scoring for the Bruins.
Stanford won the meet for the eighth consecutive year with 22
points. Arizona State placed a distant second with 78 points. The
individual winner was Stanford’s Sara Bei, who defended her
2002 title with a time of 21:12.
“We are not happy to finish third because we feel that we
have a team capable of competing well and beating Arizona
State,” coach Eric Peterson said in a press release.
The team will get another chance to beat the Sun Devils this
weekend at Regionals, held in Portland, Ore. The top two teams from
Regionals will receive automatic invites to Nationals, held the
following weekend in Iowa. With Stanford likely to dominate
Regionals, it is crucial for the Bruins to defeat Arizona
State.
“The Pac-10 is just a fun race,” Flores said.
“Regionals is the important race for the team.”
In the men’s race, the Bruins were led by true freshman
Austin Ramos, who completed the 8,000 meter course in 25:43,
placing him 22nd overall.
“We are being led by one of the top freshman runners in
the Pac-10,” Peterson said. “In every race he has found
a way to work his way to the front of this team.”
The only other Bruin in the top 25 was junior Jon Rankin, who
finished 25th in 25:51.
The Cardinal won the meet for the fourth consecutive year,
accumulating 22 points. Stanford’s Ian Dobson captured the
individual title in 24:33.
The men will join the women at Regionals this weekend but have
more modest goals.
“Over the next two weeks, we are going to dedicate
ourselves to improving upon today’s finish at the NCAA
Regionals,” Peterson said.