The UCLA men’s cross country team continues to gain momentum after a strong performance at Friday’s Notre Dame Invitational. In a field that featured seven teams in the top 25, including No. 3 Stanford, the unranked Bruins ran composed and together to a 6th place finish.
Redshirt senior Dylan Knight led the way with a time of 24:45. Redshirt senior Kent Morikawa (24:48), sophomore Dustin Fey (24:52), sophomore Nohe Lema (24:53), and junior Zack Torres (25:03) rounded out the rest of the scoring five, a group that saw only an 18 second difference between the first and fifth scorer.
While No. 14 BYU won the men’s race, the Bruins were only 9 scoring points away from a top four finish.
After winning the Aztec Invitational followed by a second place finish at the Stanford Invitational last month, the men’s squad continues to put together an impressive series of performances.
For the women’s team, junior Katja Goldring led her teammates with a time of 18:01. Junior Sarah Toberty (18:17), redshirt freshman Kelsey Smith (18:35), freshman Bronte Golick (18:46), and freshman Annie Mooney (18:49) wrapped up the rest of the scoring five.
Finishing 23rd in a field that had No. 2 New Mexico and No. 7 Florida state, the woman’s squad, fueled by many underclassmen, continues to gain experience and confidence for the rest of the season.
Both the men and women’s cross country teams will next line up at the starting line on October 14th in Madison, WI for the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational.