Friday, November 14, 1997
Runners focus on qualifying for upcoming NCAA Championship
M. CROSS COUNTRY:
Fine-tuning top Bruins, enhancing teamwork adds to optimism for
nationalsBy Donald Morrison
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA men’s cross country team has one goal. It’s a goal that
the team set before the season began and has been training for
since the summer. The goal: to qualify for the NCAA
Championships.
The No. 16 Bruins will have the opportunity to accomplish that
goal when they compete at the NCAA Western Regionals on Saturday in
Tucson, Ariz.
To automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships, the Bruins
must finish in one of the top two spots. However, they could get an
at-large berth if they finish third, or possibly fourth, in the
nation’s toughest region.
"I think we’ve made some positive gains over the last week and a
half since the Pac-10 meet," UCLA head coach Bob Larsen said. "Our
workouts have been good. We know what we have to do."
UCLA will face the rest of the Pac-10 as well as other western
schools. Stanford, the No. 2 team in the nation, enters the meet as
the heavy favorite to win the team title. No. 6 Oregon and No. 10
Washington State will probably battle for second place. While UCLA,
No. 21 Arizona, No. 25 Washington and Portland are expected to be
right behind.
At the Pac-10 Championships two weeks ago, Oregon edged WSU by
two points for second place. However, Larsen feels that UCLA can
contend with the Ducks and Cougars, especially if Devin Elizondo
runs well.
Elizondo, coming off of achilles tendinitis, is usually one of
UCLA’s top three runners. Yet he finished No. 4 on the Bruin squad
at the Pac-10 meet.
"I think if (Elizondo) is capable of stepping up closer to where
he was at the (NCAA preview meet) when he was really running well,"
Larsen said, "if he can get closer to that level now after his
injury, that would be a real key for us."
Elizondo is not the only Bruin who needs to perform well.
Mebrahtom Keflezighi will attempt to win the 10,000 meter race and
defeat Bernard Lagat of Washington State.
Lagat defeated Keflezighi at the Pac-10 meet but Larsen said,
Keflezighi is more concerned with helping the team than with
winning the race. A top-five finish for Keflezighi will assure him
of a fourth individual berth at the NCAA Champion-ships.
Mark Hauser and Will Bernaldo are coming off of good races at
the Pac-10 meet, and will need to have good races again if UCLA
doesn’t want its season to end early. Hauser finished 11th at the
Pac-10 meet and Bernaldo finished 26th.
Dan Brecht and Matt Olin are looking to have strong races over
the six-mile course. Brecht and Olin are the team’s No. 4 and No. 5
runners, respectively. Olin believes that the season doesn’t have
to end on Saturday.
"I’m really optimistic about the race," Olin said after the
Pac-10 meet. "If we could just all have good races at the right
time, I really think we’ll qualify for the nationals."
AARON TOUT/Daily Bruin
Matt Olin (No. 74) runs determinedly at the Pac-10
Championships.