The UCLA cross country teams will travel to Eugene, Ore., on Saturday to compete in the second annual Bill Dellinger Invitational. The event is the first major meet of the collegiate season and the first real test for both the men and women.
The men enter the meet as the No. 21-ranked team nationally, while the women’s team is unranked.
“It is simply the opportunity to run against a collection of strong teams that will have something to say about who wins at national championships,” coach Eric Peterson said. “The course is the same one that is used for the Western Region Championships and the familiarity will be important for us in the postseason.”
The men will compete against 15 teams, including seven that are ranked in the top 30.
This team has aspirations to be in the top 10, and tough competition is exactly what it needs to grow.
A great showing would definitely provide the boost toward achieving that goal.
“This is a great opportunity to run against four or five teams that are real strong,” said Peterson. “Wisconsin, Oregon, Portland, UTEP and Alabama are all teams that are nationally ranked at this time, beating any is a great accomplishment. We hope to be at least in the top five. We will go up there and put our best effort out there and see where the results put us.”
The men’s team has won its first two meets in decisive fashion, the last one coming on Saturday at the Pepperdine Invitational in Malibu. Freshman Evan Watchempino led an all-freshman squad to victory with his second-place finish. Peterson tabbed Watchempino as the only first-year who will join the squad this weekend.
With only one freshman running, the Bruins hope that depth and experience carry the team to a favorable outcome. Redshirt senior Austin Ramos and senior Kyle Shackleton will lead a squad of 10 athletes for UCLA in the eight-kilometer race.
“Ramos is our top returning runner, an All-American from a couple years ago and one of the top distance runners in the country,” said Peterson. “He’s hungry to start the season positively.”
As for the women’s team, the key to a successful trip will be based on the amount of improvement shown from the past two meets. The team is not fully healthy but still attempting to learn while staying competitive.
“We are going up there and we hope to see improvement,” Peterson said. “So far we have shown individual improvement from Reno to Pepperdine. We need to take a step forward from the past three weeks and mark our improvement from week to week.”
Opponents in the women’s six-kilometer race include five top-30 teams, making the meet one of the toughest all year.
A young Bruin squad sends nine athletes with hopes of being led by senior Claire Rethmeier and junior Olga Aulet-Leon.
“We are expecting it to be a very competitive meet,” Rethmeier said. “It is the first real test of the season. It’s hard to see where we’ll stack up because we’re still coming along but we are really excited. We have a strong corps and no one really stands out. We all run together.”