Tuesday, November 26, 1996
CROSS-COUNTRY:
Pac-10 makes a strong showing, Keflezighi finishes 10thBy Vytas
Mazeika
Daily Bruin Contributor
Stanford swept the team titles, UCLA’s Mebrahtom Keflezighi
earned All-America honors for the third consecutive year and
Arizona’s Amy Skieresz won the women’s individual NCAA
championship.
Needless to say, the Pac-10 had a successful showing at the NCAA
Cross Country Championship.
Both Cardinal teams claimed the team championships in mild
upsets. Coming into the meet ranked second in the nation, they
managed to defeat the two favored teams  46-74 against
Arkansas in the men’s race and 101-106 against Villanova in the
women’s race.
In the individual races, Godfrey Siamusiye of Arkansas repeated
as the national champion with a time of 29:49, 31 seconds ahead of
second place. On the women’s side, Amy Skieresz of Arizona improved
upon last year’s second-place performance by winning the title with
a time of 17:04.
UCLA’s only representative in the championships, Mebrahtom
Keflezighi wanted to improve upon last year’s ninth-place finish.
Unable to accomplish his goal, Keflezighi finished in 10th
place.
"Going into the race, Meb wanted to improve on last year’s
finish. I know he is somewhat disappointed that he did not," men’s
coach Bob Larsen said. "However, to earn three straight All-America
honors during his career with UCLA is quite an accomplishment."
Keflezighi did not run the stellar race that he was hoping for,
illustrated by the fact that two runners that he had beaten
consistency all year long  Greg Jimmerson from Stanford who
came in fourth and Matt Davis from Oregon who finished fifth Â
finished ahead of him.
Two other Pac-10 teams also performed well above expectations.
Oregon placed third in the men’s race with 140 points.
And the Arizona women placed a surprising sixth with 214 points,
just three shy of the top five. Part of the reason for their
success and the championship run by Amy Skieresz may have been that
the event was held in Tucson, the home of the Wildcats.
One person absent in the results was UCLA’s freshman sensation
Kim Mortensen. Mortensen had been one of the favorites to win the
individual championship, but she ran her worst race of the year in
the District VIII meet, failing to qualify for the
championships.