It will be the same story, with hopefully a different ending,
for the No. 21 UCLA women’s cross country team Monday, as it
prepares to compete in the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute,
Ind.
The team advanced via an at-large bid last Monday, after
returning from the NCAA West Regionals, where it placed third
overall. The women will attempt to outscore competition they feel
equally matched up against, and are anxious to disprove their No.
21 national ranking.
Individually, third-year Lena Nilsson placed second at Regionals
and is amongst the runners favored to win the championships Monday.
Competing against her will be North Carolina State runner Shalene
Flanagan, who is undefeated this season. Head coach Eric Peterson
feels Nilsson has a good chance of doing well for herself and the
team.
“It would be foolish, for as well as she has run, to count
her out” Peterson said.
However, Nilsson did get a late start in the cross-country
season this year due to an extensive break from the summer track
season. She faced Flanagan last May at the NCAA track and field
championships. Nilsson finished first and Flanagan third in the
1500m run.
With the team healthy and hopefully at top performance level,
UCLA hopes for a top-15 team finish. This goal is not unreasonable
considering they finished 21st last year.
But second-year Carmen Winant felt strongly about last
year’s disappointing finish.
“That’s absurd,” she said. “We’re
a lot better than that.”
Peterson agreed, albeit more diplomatically.
“We started this season feeling very confident that we
could build on last season,” he said.
Jenna Timinsky is one of two first-year students who will
represent the Bruins on Monday.
“All of our training has culminated into this final
meet,” she said.
Both Winant and Timinsky feel that on their best day, UCLA could
achieve a top 10 finish.
The issue of weather has been discussed, with Indiana’s
temperatures ranging from 37-57 degrees recently, but the general
consensus is that it will not hinder the women’s
performance.
The Bruins will be running against several familiar opponents,
including Stanford, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Columbia,
Duke and Arizona State. Additionally, the team has placed higher
than No. 22 Penn State, No. 15 Michigan State, and No. 20 Indiana.
Peterson believes UCLA matches up well with the teams ranked
9-20.
“On the right day we could beat all those teams,” he
said.
Also running for the Bruin women is third-year Valerie Flores,
second-year students Lori Mann and Alejandra Barrientos and
first-year Allison Hall.
The team leaves this afternoon and the race begins at 12 p.m.
EST.