Friday, September 26, 1997
Harriers to compete at Stanford
TRACK: Team hopes for upset despite top runner’s absence
By Jared Hummel
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA women’s cross-country team will receive a litmus test
tomorrow night, to determine just how solid they are among the
nation’s best. They will compete in a 19-team field at the
prestigious Stanford Invite – against host and defending Pac-10 and
national champions Stanford.
UCLA has begun the 1997 season on an impressive note, finishing
second to Arkansas on Sept. 13 at the UC Irvine Invitational and
winning the Aztec Invitational last Saturday. Their performances in
these two meets were strong enough to boost them into the No. 23
spot.
Coach Eric Peterson’s squad hopes to improve upon their third
place finish in last year’s Stanford Invite, where they placed
behind Stanford and Brigham Young universities.
Despite Peterson’s optimism over his team’s chances this season,
he respects Stanford’s talent. "(Stanford’s) the odds-on favorite
to repeat as national champions," he said. "It’s a huge upset if
you beat them."
In addition to Stanford, the Bruins must also face off against
second-ranked BYU and eighth-ranked Georgetown. Peterson doesn’t
seem to mind his team’s role as a long shot in this meet. "The nice
side is that we’re the underdog," he said. "BYU, Stanford and
Georgetown are ranked in the top 10 and we’re not – they have to
beat us."
Kim Mortensen, the leading runner for the Bruins, won last
year’s title in the individual competition, finishing the
5,000-meter in 17 minutes, 16 seconds. However, as a result of an
injury sustained last week, Peterson explained that it is doubtful
she will compete in tomorrow’s meet.
Despite the timing and importance of this meet, Peterson does
not think that Mortensen’s absence will adversely affect the rest
of the squad.
"It isn’t so much that they become intimidated, what happens is
that they now know that their contribution becomes even more
important. They know that they can’t hide behind Mortensen’s
performance," he said.
Peterson hopes that the vastly improved supporting cast can step
up and remain competitive, despite the loss of Mortensen. Faced
with the task of challenging No. 1 Stanford will be senior
Katherina Kechris; redshirt freshman Kelly Cohn; sophomores Melinda
George, Christina Bowen and Kara Barnard; true freshmen Katie
Nuanes and Julie Ott; and junior Jamie Artzner.
Tomorrow’s meet will be a true test of this squad’s depth as
well as its character. In cross-country, one runner cannot win a
meet single-handedly because the sum of the top five finishers’
places comprise the team score.
Peterson is still very optimistic about his team’s chances
tomorrow as he feels the depth on the team is solid, evidenced by
the mere nine second spread separating the finish times of the
second place and the seventh place runners.
The Bruins will ride into tomorrow’s meet on a wave of
confidence after last week’s victory at the Aztec Invite where
Mortensen finished second; Kechris, fifth; Cohn, seventh; Ott,
eighth; and Bowen rounded out the top five UCLA finishers at 10th.
In winning the meet the Bruins finished ahead of both Florida and
Pac-10 rival Arizona, who were No. 17 and No. 7, respectively, in
the preseason.