It came down to a photo finish at the Triton Classic in San Diego this weekend, as UCLA senior Henry Hagenbuch edged out Fresno State’s Eric Garcia in the final seconds en route to an impressive victory.
Bruin runners claimed seven of the top 15 spots and earned another decisive victory for the UCLA men’s cross country team. It was the team’s third victory in four races.
With 200 meters to go, Garcia lead Hagenbuch, but was unable to hold the lead after the Bruin closed the gap with 70m to go, finishing .02 seconds ahead of Garcia with a time of 32:43.1, emerging as the new record holder for the 10k course.
UCLA sent nine male runners, along with four members of the women’s team, with the goal of competing to see who would make the final two spots on the roster for next week’s Pre-NCAA Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind.
“What we’re trying to do is build the strongest team that we possibly can before we start the Pac-10 conference championship,” coach Eric Peterson said.
While some of the runners will not make the roster for the race in Indiana, the victory bodes well for the future of UCLA cross country, as seven of the nine runners were true freshmen. They were lead by Kent Morikawa and Dylan Knight, with times of 33:04.4 and 33:22.6, respectively.
“We mostly ran freshmen and sophomores, and for most of them it was the first time that they had ever competed at 10,000 meters. Typically they run 8,000 meters, so I was very pleased with the fact that they executed that race plan well and it paid off for us,” Peterson said. “We took most of the top places in the race, and it was an added bonus, obviously, to have Henry win.”
With the roster finalized, the team can look forward to next week’s invitational, where they will face some of the highest-caliber teams in the country. Running in Terre Haute will also give the Bruins some valuable familiarity with the course for the postseason.
“This will be the toughest race we’ve competed in all season.” Peterson said. “Typically there are 20 of the top 30 teams in the nation competing in this event, and it is really an opportunity for us to get a better reading on where we are as a team, and we feel that we have a team this year that can place in the top 10 in the national meet when it is all said and done.”
On the women’s side, sophomore Nicole Pennes led the way for the Bruins with a time of 22:46.8 to finish in seventh place on the 6k course, which solidified her chances of being added to the women’s roster for the Pre-NCAA Invitational next weekend. She was joined by Hannah Roeder and Gabrielle Bournes, along with redshirt freshman Rosa Magana. The women looked to gain more racing experience in preparation for the future.
“Nicole has certainly earned (a spot); she ran much better yesterday than she did the week before, and she did it while managing a chest cold,” Peterson said. “I appreciate any athlete that is able to push that stuff to the side and focus on competing hard.”