If at first you don’t succeed, try again. This Saturday,
the women’s cross-country team will do exactly that at the
NCAA West Regionals in Portland, Ore. The top two teams at this
meet will get an automatic bid to the NCAA Finals on Nov. 14 in
Iowa. Just two weeks after finishing third behind Stanford and
Arizona State at the Pac-10 Finals, the Bruins will attempt to
improve on this finish. The Cardinal dominated the meet, but the
Bruins lost to the Sun Devils by just a single point. “We
just need one or two more kids to do a little bit more,” UCLA
coach Eric Peterson said. Though the field expands to over twenty
teams, the main competition will come from the Pac-10. “The
Regional meet is basically a rerunning of the Pac-10
Championships,” Peterson said. The competition may be the
same, but the Bruins are hoping for a change in the running
conditions. At the Pac-10 meet in Pullman, Wash., the team ran in
near-freezing temperatures across hilly terrain. This weekend,
despite the probability of rain, the team is looking forward to a
much different course. “This is a more favorable
course,” Peterson said. “It is way more forgiving than
the (Pac-10 Finals’ course). The course itself is not the
challenge; the elements will be.” One thing working in the
Bruins’ favor is the experience of the team. Out of the seven
women running, five were at Regionals last year, including senior
Valerie Flores, who won All-Conference honors at the Pac-10 Finals.
“I feel like, if (Flores) puts her mind to it, she can finish
in the top five,” Peterson said.
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY: Six runners from the
men’s team will join the women this weekend at Regionals.
After placing 7th at the Pac-10 Finals though, they are not looking
for a team invitation to Finals, instead hoping for individuals to
qualify. “There is an excellent chance that one or more of
(the men) will qualify for the Finals,” Peterson said.