With only one week left to prepare for the Pac-10 Championships,
cross country coach Eric Peterson has one last chance to finalize
his rosters.
This evening, the men’s and women’s cross country
teams will be competing at the Titan Invitational on the campus of
Cal State Fullerton. As was the case two weeks ago at the UCSD
Triton Cross Country Classic, however, only a limited number of
Bruin athletes will be competing.
The meet will give Peterson a clearer view of who he will be
taking to round out the bottom end of the lineup next week in
Stanford for the Pac-10 Championships. Although teams are allowed
to have ten runners compete, Peterson is hesitant to bring runners
along just for the ride.
“These kids that are running are people that we would like
to take along with us to the championships,” Peterson
said.
“But I feel that they need to run one more time and show a
higher level of competitiveness. They’ve got to be prepared
to make a contribution, not just to race.”
Only one runner will be representing the men in the 8,000 meter
race ““ true freshman Ryan Gordon. At the UCSD Triton Classic,
he and teammate Matt Stollenwerk were also the sole runners for
UCLA. While Stollenwerk has since joined the regular team lineup,
Peterson believes that Gordon still has to prove he can
contribute.
“Ryan is making progress,” Peterson said. “But
he is not quite there yet. So, if he has a real competitive race,
then I’m going to be more inclined to add him to the
team.”
On the women’s side, senior Lori Mann will be looking to
regain her position on the squad after she sustained a quadricep
injury last Wednesday that kept her out of the NCAA Pre-National
race last weekend.
Joining Mann on the 5,000 meter course will be senior Leslie
Barrie and freshman Lauren Jirges, all of whom competed at the UCSD
Triton Classic as well.
Freshman Ciara Viehweg, who also competed in San Diego two weeks
ago, has since been solidified into the regular lineup after
shaving a whole minute off of her personal best at the NCAA
Pre-National meet.
Like Stollenwerk and Viehweg, today’s runners will look to
use this meet as a springboard for success as regular contributors
in larger races.
“It can be a good experience for these athletes to run in
a lower level meet and see how competitive they can be,”
Peterson said, “because if they do a nice job, it will be
more reasonable to consider them for a spot on our Pac-10
team.”