CROSS COUNTRY Cal Fullerton
Invitational at Cal Fullerton Today
By Michael Sneag
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA cross country teams will make a short trip to Brea,
Calif. Friday to compete in the Cal State Fullerton Invitational at
Carbon Canyon Park.
On the women’s side, the Bruins will be resting some of
their top runners while on the men’s side, senior Bryan Green
will once again be rested.
The women’s team will consist of Lena Nilsson, Tiffany
Burgess, Carmen Winant, Kelly Grimes, Julia Barbour and Christine
Atkins. This will be the first cross country race of
Nilsson’s Bruin career.
Nilsson, originally from Sweden, redshirted last year because of
a stress fracture of her left leg, but the sophomore did run a
2:05.13, the second fastest 800m in school history on Aug. 16 in
Zurich, Switzerland.
“Nilsson has looked as if she could be a factor in the top
five of our runners,” head coach Eric Peterson said.
“One or two more races will help her improve. At this
weekend’s race, we are hoping to determine who our seventh
runner for the Pac-10s will be, among Nilsson, Burgess and
Winant.”
The men’s team will run a full team with the exception of
Green. The team will hope to continue their recent improvements as
they prepare for the Pac-10s and once again gain as much racing
experience as possible.
Senior Andrew Wulf, hampered by achilles tendonitis all season,
will also be running his first race of the season.
“We are using this race as an opportunity to tune up for
the Pac-10s,” Peterson said. “One more race will put us
at a better position and raise our confidence as we prepare for the
postseason.”
Although some of the top Bruins will be missing from this meet,
it is still important for both the men’s and women’s
teams to use this meet as a learning experience to ready themselves
for the Pac-10 Championships on Oct. 27.