Coming into the season, the Bruins were looking for leadership.
After the first couple of races, it seems that the team will be led
by committee.
UCLA took part in the Roy Griak Cross Country Invitational
hosted by the University of Minnesota over the weekend, finishing
15th overall.
The Bruins were led this time out by junior Kyle Shackleton, who
finished the 8,000-meter race in 22nd place overall against a very
talented field.
“Kyle ran very well for us,” said coach Eric
Peterson. “But I am much more interested in how we run as a
team than who finishes where. We are at a point with this team
where we are not very concerned with any one individual
performance; our goal is to qualify this team for the NCAA
Championships.”
With senior All-American Austin Ramos using his redshirt season,
the team has had to fill his void at the top of the lineup. In the
Bruins’ first race, that void was filled by sophomore Laef
Barnes, who paced the team to a dual-meet victory over UC
Riverside.
Peterson knows that with such a young team, the best course of
action may not be to look to one person, but to encourage all of
his runners to step up into leadership roles.
“There is a lot of parity in the fitness level of our top
four guys,” Peterson said. “I am more interested in our
top four being able to run as a unit and to demonstrate teamwork on
the course than I am who finishes first.”
The Roy Griak field included several of the nation’s
premiere teams and runners, including conference foe Arizona, which
won the invitational.
After Shackleton (25:13), there was a long dropoff to the
Bruins’ next runner, Kyle’s twin brother Drew
Shackleton (25:50), who finished in 54th place. The twins were
followed by Barnes (26:04), freshman Marlon Patterson (26:16) and
junior Mike Haddan (26:23), who seemed to struggle on the muddy
course.
Peterson knows that if his team hopes to improve during the
course of the season, the members of this core group will have to
close the gaps between one another during races.
“Until we can have closer races between our first and
fifth runners, we will continue to have results like we did at the
Griak Invitational, which was not up to our expectations,”
Peterson said.