MIKE CHIEN The Bruins lead the pack in the women’s 5000
meter race Friday at CS Fullerton, claiming five of the top six
finishing times.
By Michael Sneag
Daily Bruin Contributor
Head coach Eric Peterson was hoping to use the CS Fullerton
Invitational as a confidence builder, and the plan worked
perfectly.
Freshman Ben Aragon and sophomore Lena Nilsson were the
individual winners, and they helped the Bruins capture the team
titles on Friday afternoon. The Bruins were resting their top women
as well as senior Bryan Green on the men’s side, but were
still able to easily win the team titles in a convincing
manner.
Nilsson, who was running her first race of the cross country
season, won with a time of 18:04 for the 5,000 meter course.
Although she was competing for a spot to be the seventh runner for
the upcoming Pac-10 Championships this week, she was not expecting
very much.
“I was hoping to just finish the race, and I happened to
win it. My teammates pushed me hard, but it was fun. I was tired,
but it was great to run with the girls and be at the front of the
pack.”
The Bruins also placed five other runners in the top 10.
Sophomore Tiffany Burgess placed second overall with a time of
18:11, followed by junior Julia Barbour (fourth, 18:23), freshman
Carmen Winant (fifth, 18:25), junior Kelly Grimes (sixth, 18:38)
and freshman Christine Atkins (ninth, 10:17), showing just how
dominant the Bruins’ performance was.
The women’s team, which was ranked No. 22 this week, won
with a perfect score of 15 points, followed by Pepperdine (61), CS
San Marcos (67), UCSB “B” (105) and Loyola Marymount
(124).
Aragon won the men’s 8,000 meter race with a time of
25:01, more than a minute faster than he ran on this same course on
Sept. 4 at the Jammin’ Invitational. His growth and maturity
also showed, as he didn’t go out too fast but managed to pace
himself for the last two miles where he really turned it on.
“It is becoming a trademark of his ““ running with a
lot of patience and control, and being able to spread his effort
over the entire race,” head coach Eric Peterson said.
“He has earned the right to feel confident because he has
worked hard and he has done a good job.”
In the team race, the Bruins won with 21 points. USC was second
(40 points) and Pepperdine was third (83).
Like the women, the men’s team placed five runners in the
top 10 led by freshmen Puneet Mahan (third, 25:44) and Seth
Neumuller (seventh, 25:52), junior Phil Young (eighth, 25:56),
senior Justin Patananan (ninth, 26:00) and freshman Reggie Oronoz
(10th, 26:05).
After the meet Coach Peterson reiterated to his team how happy
he was with both teams’ performances and how he was looking
forward to this weekend’s Pac-10 meet. The smiles from the
whole team as they headed back to the buses were evidence of how
well Peterson’s plan had worked.