Tuesday, November 3, 1998
Men’s cross country finishes 8th in Pac-10
RECAP: Hauser’s fifth-place time places him among nation’s
elite, helps team capture top 10 spot
By Donald Morrison
Daily Bruin Contributor
It was all treat on Halloween for UCLA men’s cross country
runner Mark Hauser. Hauser, competing against some of the best
runners in the nation at the Pac-10 Conference Championships,
finished fifth in Eugene, Ore.
Running in rain and on a wet, muddy course, Hauser covered the
five miles in a personal best time of 23 minutes, 51 seconds. His
performance was the highlight for a UCLA squad that finished eighth
in the race.
"Hauser was super," UCLA head coach Bob Larsen said. "It was a
great race for him. It was thrilling to see him do that well. I’m
really proud of him. He’s matured so much both physically and
mentally ."
Hauser was among the leaders early on in the race, crossing the
two-mile mark in 9:20. He kept pace with the front pack for three
miles before champion Abdi Abdirahman from Arizona and Bernard
Lagat of Washington pulled away.
Abdirahman won the race by 10 seconds and set the course record
by finishing in 23:23. He broke Karl Keska’s 1997 record of 23:48.
With the victory, Abdirahman won his third Pac-10 crown of the
year. He also won the 5,000 and 10,000-meter outdoor track titles.
Lagat, last year’s Pac-10 champion, placed second in 23:33. Matt
Davis from Oregon finished third and Brad Hauser from Stanford
placed fourth.
"This type of race will qualify (Mark Hauser) for the NCAA
Championships," Larsen said. "He looked good the whole way and
never tensed up. It’s a great feeling to come home and have an
individual that really had an outstanding race. The guys on the
team respect him. He’s been a great role model all year long."
Stanford edged out Oregon for the Pac-10 team title by only two
points.
The Cardinal finished with 48 points while the Ducks had 50. It
seemed as if Stanford was going to cruise to an easy win before the
last mile, when the Oregon runners closed the gap and made it a
close race.
What turned out to be the difference was Stanford’s Jonathan
Riley squeaking by Oregon’s Steve Fein for sixth place by one
second. Had Fein captured sixth, Oregon would have tied Stanford
and won the race because the Ducks’ sixth man finished ahead of
Stanford’s sixth man.
Arizona placed third and Arizona State finished fourth while
Washington State, Washington and California rounded out fifth,
sixth and seventh places.
Despite the inclement weather in Oregon, 32 runners managed to
finish the race under 25 minutes. One of those runners was UCLA’s
Paul Muite. Muite , who has been ill for the last week, finished
31st and ran a personal best time of 24:57.
"Muite ran a good race," Larsen said. "It was solid but he’s
capable of more."
Will Bernaldo finished 41st in 25:23, while Mason Moore captured
50th place. Bryan Green and Scott Abbott finished 52nd and 53rd
respectively and ran the same time of 26:15. Matt Pitts was the
last Bruin to cross the finish line. He placed 55th.
Even though UCLA finished eigth, the Bruins entered the race
shooting for as high as fourth place. According to Larsen, the team
performed well but made strategic errors during the race.
UCLA looked good for the first mile but slowed down and
anticipated the fast pace to slow with them. It didn’t, but Larsen
said the team got a learning experience. Four of the team’s seven
runners ran in their first Pac-10 Championship race ever.
"When the team is training that hard, I’d like to see them shoot
that high," Larsen said. "We made some tactical errors but they’re
young guys and they’ll recover."
UCLA has two weeks to recuperate before the Western Regional
meet in Fresno.
At the meet, teams will try to earn qualifying spots for the
NCAA Championships and individuals will be gunning for shots at the
championships as well.
Hauser will be among those individuals. The course will also be
lengthened to 10,000 meters, but Larsen said that should not hurt
Hauser.
"The key is to qualify as an individual," Larsen said of Hauser.
"This was the first time that he’s went out and stayed with the
leaders at a championship race."
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