Tuesday, October 13, 1998
Women’s cross country team takes victory
RECAP:Bruins grab national attention by defeating tough teams at
invitational in Maine
By Donald Morrison
Daily Bruin Contributor
The No. 22 UCLA women’s cross-country team aimed for victory on
Saturday at the Murray Keating Invitational, and they got it. The
Bruins, racing to gain exposure and respect from around the
country, defeated eight New England schools in Orono, ME.
"It’s our best performance of the year, by far," head women’s
cross-country coach Eric Peterson said. "It was a good team
effort."
UCLA, led by Kelly Cohn, ran away with the invitational title
with 35 points. UCLA had their top six runners, with the top five
scoring, finish within 25 seconds of each other.
Boston College, a team that finished ninth at last year’s NCAA
Championships, placed second with 46 points.
Cohn was the first Bruin to cross the finish line. She finished
fourth in 17 minutes, 49 seconds over the 3.1 mile course.
Kara Barnard, who has finished as UCLA’s No. 6 runner in
previous meets as of late, placed fifth at the invite. Barnard
finished only one second behind Cohn in 17:50 and ran a personal
best cross-country time by nearly 45 seconds.
"I was very pleased that (Cohn) and (Barnard) broke up Boston
College’s No. 1 and No. 2 runners," Peterson said. "I know B.C. has
a good team."
The Golden Eagles’ No. 1 runner, Angela Graham won the meet for
the first time since 1995 as she ran 17:23. Boston College’s No. 2
runner, Sharon Van Tuyl finished sixth.
UCLA would then have four more runners finish before Boston
College’s No. 4 runner did.
"I figured in order to beat B.C. we’d have to put five runners
in front of their No. 3 runner," Peterson said. "Instead, we have
six runners finish before their fourth which is just as good."
Julie Ott finished seventh for UCLA in 18:02, while freshman
Elaine Canchola came in right behind Ott at ninth place in
18:03.
Christina Bowen, nursing an ankle injury she suffered earlier in
the season, still managed to finish 11th in 18:12, her fastest time
of the season.Katie Nuanes finished 12th in 18:14.
Other schools competing included Vermont, who placed third with
115 points, fourth place New Hampshire and Connecticut, which
placed fifth.
With the win, UCLA becomes the third Pacific-10 Conference team
to win the Murray Keating Invite. Stanford won the meet in 1996 and
Arizona won in 1993.
"We got out aggressive and took control of the field," Peterson
said. "I’m impressed that we won such a big meet."
Peterson is hoping that the win out in Maine will give his team
an edge to qualify for the NCAA Championships if the team doesn’t
earn an automatic qualifying slot.
A win over schools from the East Coast could bode well for UCLA
if the team is on the bubble of qualifying or not.
"We seem to be heading in the right direction to qualify for the
NCAA Championships," Peterson said.
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