Friday, October 9, 1998
Prestigious meet includes Bruin teams for first time
M.CROSS-COUNTRY With top-caliber competition, UCLA needs to step
up
By Donald Morrison
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA men’s cross-country team will travel along with the
women’s squad all the way across the country this Saturday to gain
national exposure. The Bruins will be competing at the
Seventh-Annual Murray Keating Invitational in Orono, Maine for the
first time and hope to finish high in this prestigious invite.
‘It’s a pretty big meet,’ UCLA head coach Bob Larsen said. ‘It
has a good reputation and is a major invitational.’
The Bruins will be led by senior Mark Hauser. Hauser, who
competed in the 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) last spring at the NCAA
Track and Field Championships, is coming off of a good week of
practice and is ready to run the 8,000 meter (5.2 mile) course.
Hauser hopes to qualify for the NCAA Championships in November
as an individual, but more so as part of the team. Larsen said he’s
starting to get into much better shape than he was in earlier in
the season.
‘(Hauser’s) really coming around,’ Larsen said. ‘His workouts
are really getting strong. He had one of his best workouts on
Monday. He’s running pretty high mileage right now. He’ll be up
among the top runners.’
Hauser’s last finish, at the Roy Griak Invite in Minnesota in
September, was 23rd in 25 minutes, 22 seconds over 8,000 meters.
Hauser will have to watch out for two-time defending Murray-Keating
Invite champion, John Mortimer of Michigan. Mortimer finished 11th
at the NCAA cross-country championships last year. Todd Snyder of
Michigan and Iowa’s Chad Schwitters are also expected to be among
the race’s leaders.
Michigan, ranked No. 7 in the nation, is the favorite to win its
second consecutive invite title. Iowa and Boston College will
provide tough competition for UCLA, as all three schools are ranked
42nd in the country.
‘Quite a few schools in New England take cross-country pretty
seriously,’ Larsen said. ‘There are some strong traditions back
there. We’ll see some good teams.’
Paul Muite and Will Bernaldo had a solid week of practice and
expect to perform well. Muite has been the team’s No. 2 runner so
far this season, and finished only 36 seconds behind Hauser at the
Roy Griak Invite. Bernaldo was only four seconds behind Muite at
their last race as he finished in 26:02 in Minnesota.
The team is excited to be traveling to Maine for the first time
and is looking to forward to running the course and against teams
that it is unfamiliar with.
‘It’s a long trip,’ Larsen said. ‘Right now, everyone’s looking
forward to it.’
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