With an “everyone or no one” philosophy, the UCLA men’s and women’s cross country team have grown accustomed to being around each other.
But for the first time this season, the two teams will travel separately; the women’s team will travel to San Luis Obispo for the Cal Poly Invitational while the top seven on the men’s side will compete at the Pre-National Invitational meet in Terre Haute, Ind.
It’s not something that the teams want to get used to.
With the first of the season’s final three big races ““ the Pac-10 Championships ““ lurking less than two weeks away, the Bruins are looking to step out of their comfort zone.
“Honestly it’s going to be weird,” junior Shannon Murakami said. “It’s going to be different with them going to Indiana ““ the girl’s team is used to having the guy’s team cheer us on and us to cheer them on. It’s going to be a big change, but at the same time, it’s something that we need to get used to.”
The women, who have been hampered by the flu bug for the past few weeks, have persisted through sickness in order to maintain fitness with their demanding training schedule.
This past week, the runners who were sick were still doing what they could to keep working out.
“We’re just trying to stay away from everyone else who is sick,” Murakami said. “Regardless, we’re going to continue to work hard. I think everybody will still step up and will give all they have.”
With sophomore Katja Goldring and Murakami anchoring the first two positions, the women’s team will look to close the gap between the second spot and the final three scoring runners.
“Our first through fifth runners have to space out better,” Murakami said. “We’ve been working really hard throughout the season, but they especially need to step up as the season gets deeper.”
The need to tighten the gap among their top finishers also holds true for the men’s team, which will go to Indiana looking to ensure a return trip to the NCAA Championships also set to be held in Terre Haute in late November.
“What’s important is that five runners score,” senior Alex Crabill said. “And so if four of us have a good race, that’s not good enough. We need another person to step up whether it be Kevin (Sullivan) or Spencer (Knight) or Zack Torres.”
Though two kilometers shorter in length, the NCAA invitational course is very similar to the one used for the championship meet.
With a large entry of 72 teams from across the country, the competitors will be split into two races. For now, the team is eyeing a top-5 finish in either of the two.
“I think we’d like to be a top-5 team; it’ll be good for the seven us to travel to Indiana and to really focus in and build that team camaraderie without any distractions,” Crabill said. “It’s a close knit group, and hopefully we can just take care of business.”