After a conference-wide battle, the Bruins are racing onto an even bigger stage.
UCLA cross country will head to Sacramento for the NCAA West Regional on Friday morning at the Arcade Creek Cross Country Course, hosted by Sacramento State. The Bruins are fresh off a pair of top-10 finishes at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago, where the women’s squad took an eight-place finish and the men’s squad came in 10th.
Both Bruin teams, as well as individual runners, now have a chance to advance to the 2026 NCAA Championships.
And the women’s side made their best case to be included in those conversations at the Big Ten title race.
The Bruin women raced to their highest-ever finish at this year’s Big Ten Championships, with sophomore Evie Marheineke pacing the group after recording a 20:33.7 in the women’s 6K. She was followed by junior Olivia Foody’s 20:42.2 and sophomore Annie Ivarsson’s 20:54.7, with five total women’s runners tallying a sub-21-minute time.
“This group is all about stacking the years together for growth and development,” said assistant coach Andrew Ferris. “In most cases, we just need more time for training and to gain experience. It’s all about continuing to get better.”
Oregon claimed the Big Ten championship on the men’s and women’s sides, with women’s runner Diana Cherotich leading her group with a record-breaking 18:56.1 in the 6K and men’s runner Simeon Birnbaum pacing his team with a time of 23:04.2 in the men’s 8K.
The Bruin men still put up a fight, though, and fifth-year Henry Coughlan led the group with a 23:59.4. Finishing behind Coughlan were junior Jack Falkowski, sophomore Yosef Berhan and junior Andreas Dybdahl – who recorded times of 24:06.3, 24:22.0 and 24:35.2, respectively.
The men’s team tallied 298 total points and the Ducks finished with a commanding lead for first place, raking in 23 points in comparison to second place Wisconsin’s 62.
“We’re in a good position to accomplish some goals we set out in May,” said Falkowski. “A lot of the guys on the team, myself included, made a jump this season. We have a more professional outlook on the whole season because we went to most meets last season with no expectations.”
The top two teams on both the men’s and women’s sides at the West Regional will automatically advance to the NCAA Championships, with an additional 13 teams across the nine different regions receiving at-large bids.
Individual runners can also qualify for the national meet by placing top-25 overall in their respective regional and top-four among runners from non-qualifying schools.
With time dwindling in the 2026 campaign, the Bruins now have one more shot at proving they belong on the national stage.
“I thought our previous meets went well and set us up well for the postseason,” Ferris said. “It’s been a smooth transition and we’re just looking to be better than we were last season.”
The regional opens with the women’s 6K race at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s 10K race at 10 a.m.
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