The UCLA women’s cross country team’s greatest
asset, its balance, was on full display on Saturday. But that
didn’t translate into an impressive finish for the Bruins at
the Pac-10 Championships. Despite having six runners, all of whom
placed in the top 30, finish within 25 seconds of each other, it
simply wasn’t enough to catapult No. 26 UCLA to the top of
the final standings. Instead, the Bruins finished in a
disappointing fourth place, well behind Pac-10 champion Stanford,
the top-ranked team in the country. UCLA came close to finishing in
the top 3, but fell just two points short of running past
Washington. “That’s such a narrow margin, it
can’t be calculated on the course,” coach Eric Peterson
said. The Bruins were once again led by sophomore Alison Costello,
who finished the 6000-meter course in 15th place with a time of
21:30. “I’m feeling a little more comfortable every
race,” said Costello. “I’m just trying to pick
off every jersey in front of me.” However, Costello, who has
established herself as the leader on the team, still feels that the
team is in need of a strong front-runner, something which the
Bruins had last year in Valerie Flores. On Saturday, Costello was
followed closely by junior Jenna Timinsky (21st, 21:44), freshmen
Monkia Rothenburger (22nd, 21:49) and Olga Aulet-Leon (23rd,
21:50), and sophomore Ashley Caldwell (25th, 21:54). Up next for
the Bruins is the NCAA West Region Championships on Nov. 13 where
the team will look to qualify for the NCAA Championship meet on
Nov. 22. “We absolutely need to beat Washington and UC Santa
Barbara,” Peterson said. “That’s what our focus
will be in the next two weeks.” Costello believes that the
team is very capable of making the NCAA meet once again, but admits
that it will be tough. “We have a big task ahead of
us,” said Costello. “We all have to have a big race. We
just have to run for our lives.”
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY: Senior Jon Rankin
continued his stellar season at the Pac-10 Championships. Rankin
placed fifth in the 8000-meter race with a time of 24:31, earning
All-Pac-10 first-team honors. “I’m very excited and
pleased with the way I finished,” said Rankin. “I think
this is the highest individual placing we’ve had in quite a
while, so in that respect I am very pleased.” Overall, UCLA
finished fifth, narrowly losing to Washington by two points and No.
28 Oregon by 13 points. Second-ranked Stanford won the 8000m race,
completing a sweep of both the men’s and women’s titles
for the fifth year in a row. Despite the fifth-place finish,
Peterson was in high spirits, noting that this is his team’s
best performance of the year. “This team is headed in the
right direction,” said Peterson. “This is the best
we’ve finished in my tenure. The last couple of years
we’ve come in seventh or eighth. … The team is really
upbeat, optimistic and enthusiastic.” Even with the
improvement the Bruins have made, Peterson still knows that his
team will need a strong fifth runner in order to earn a spot at the
NCAA Championships. “What we didn’t have today was a
strong effort from a fifth guy,” said Peterson.
“We’ve got very fine athletes in that position. … We
have two weeks to sort that issue out. I suspect that we
will.” Although the team has been lacking that consistent
fifth finisher, Rankin has been nothing less than spectacular as
the squad’s top runner, earning praise from his coach as one
of the country’s top distance runners. “I’m
thrilled for Jon,” said Peterson. “This really does
validate my suspicion that Jon is running at an All-American
level.” Rankin is the highest placing Bruin runner at the
Pac-10 meet since UCLA great Meb Keflezighi came in second in 1997
on his way to winning the NCAA individual title.