Thursday, October 29, 1998
kellycohn, two deck head here at 32 points
FEATURE: A three deck, single column subhead goes here; assign
it
By Donald Morrison
Daily Bruin Contributor
As a freshman, Kelly Cohn decided to walk on to the UCLA women’s
cross country team. She was not recruited or offered any
scholarships to any college coming out of Stockdale High School in
Bakersfield.
Cohn was a virtual unknown in high school. She never won a CIF
title or posed a challenge to the state’s best prep runners. On top
of all that, head women’s cross country coach, Eric Peterson, was
skeptical about her trying out for the team.
However, Cohn has defied all odds and quelled all doubts people
had about her, and is making a name for herself at UCLA as the
team’s No. 1 runner.
"I’m always very skeptical about (people wanting to walk on to
the team)," Peterson said. "because I get a lot of inquiries about
people wanting to try out for the team.
"A lot of times, it doesn’t work out. (Cohn) showed up one day
and looked strong. I thought with a lot of work she might be able
to help us."
Cohn, now a redshirt sophomore, has helped the team climb all
the way up to No. 24 in the national polls. With the Pacific-10
Conference Championships only two days way in Eugene, Ore., Cohn is
ready and focused to help the team go up against some of the
strongest teams in the nation on Sautrday.
She also wants to help the team to qualify for the NCAA
Championsips in late November.
Cohn has finished as UCLA’s top runner in all but one race that
she’s competed in this season. She set a personal record time for
5,000 meters (3.1 miles) at the Roy Griak Invite in Minnesota when
she placed 13th in 17 minutes, 48 seconds.
The impressive feat for Cohn is not that she is UCLA’s top
runner after walking on, but the fact that she is UCLA’s top runner
after not running for sixth months from December to June of this
year. Cohn suffered a stress fracture in her hip after the 1997
cross country season and had to sit out last indoor and outdoor
track and field seasons.
Instead of mentally breaking down due to the frustration of not
running for so long, Cohn stepped back out onto the track and
started training again.
"It’s hard to stay focused and not give up," Cohn said. "I was
very frustrated. Running is what I do and it’s what I love. My
injury helped me realize how important running is to me. It also
helped me realize to do everything that needs to get done so that
you can perform at your best."
Cohn decided that this year she was going to do her best. After
the school year ended, she remained on campus and got a job in
Westwood Village. Cohn trained at UCLA during the summer and was
committed to get back into shape.
When she started to train again, she had to do it the hard way
and start off slowly by jogging only one lap at a time on the track
before she could work her way up to longer runs.
"She’s had to persevere in the face of a stress fracture and
other health problems that kept her out running for sixth months
and came right back and didn’t miss a beat," Peterson said.
"Many people, when they come to a road block like that, quit.
They give up and stop. That wasn’t the case for her. She hung in
there and went through all the emotions and frustrations."
At her first race on September 12 at UC Irvine, Cohn’s
performance was anything but frustrating. She placd eigth at the
invite in 18:13 and led her team to a second place finish and
victory over No. 13 Northern Arizona.
She continued to improve as the season progressed. The next week
on September 19, at the Aztec Invite in San Diego, Cohn placed 10th
in 18:01 as the Bruins finished third.
Cohn’s most memorable race this season was the Murray Keating
Invite in Maine. Cohn finished fourth in 17:49 as UCLA won the race
by 11 points. It wasn’t Cohn’s individual performance or the race
itself that made it memorable for her.
"It was the whole meet," Cohn said. "We dominated the whole
field and that was the best feeling. To know that your part of it
and all these other runners look up to you because your were put on
a pedastal was just the best feeling in the world."
Cohn has not only improved after every race this season, but
over the course of her career at UCLA. After redshirting and
sitting out her first year, Cohn came back last cross country
season to be UCLA’s No. 3 runner.
She placed 28th at the Pac-10 meet and 26th at the Western
Regional meet, helping UCLA finish fifth at the regional meet. Her
performance last fall was good enough to get voted as the team’s
most improved runner.
"If you put in the work, you’ll definitely get the benefits from
it," Cohn said. "If you want to get something done you have to be
disciplined."
Cohn’s discipline is paying off for her and it reflects on the
whole team too. Peterson said that this year’s team is the most
competitive team, not only during races, but at practice, that he’s
ever coached.
Teammates Julie Ott, the only Bruin to beat Cohn this year,
Elaine Canchola, Christina Bowen and Kara Barnard all give Cohn
challenges at practice. Peterson notes that Cohn always steps up to
her teammates’ challenges at practice. This, he feels, make Cohn
even better.
"My teammates have had a major impact on my improvement this
cross country season," Cohn said. "Without one of our freshmen
(Canchola) that is running in the top seven, I think I’d still be
running at 18 minutes.
"(Canchola) has the guts to go out hard at the beginning of a
race."
While Cohn is not one of the individual favorites to win or to
compete for the Pac-10 crown, she knows that her performance at the
meet will weigh heavily on the team’s performance.
Cohn could creep up on some runners at the meet and surprise a
lot of other coaches and athletes who, perhaps, don’t expect a
Bruin to be among the top runners.
Cohn could be, arguably, the best walk-on runner in the nation.
It could be a matter of just weeks before the rest of the
conference and nation remembers her name and the UCLA women’s cross
country team.
Peterson feels she can do a lot of damage in upcoming weeks.
"(Cohn’s) a very valuable athlete and is tough," Peterson said.
"She’s been traning like a mad-woman. I’m not sure that I’d want to
be running against her at the end of the year."
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