After a disappointing fourth-place finish at the Pac-10
championships two weeks ago, the UCLA women’s cross country
team will look to bounce back with a strong showing this Saturday
at the NCAA West Regional meet at Fresno’s Woodward Park. The
Bruins were ranked eighth in the pre-season, but have since
completely fallen out of the national rankings and are in danger of
missing the NCAA Championships. Though coach Eric Peterson admits
that his team’s current position is somewhat of a
disappointment given its seventh place finish at the Nationals last
year, he sees this weekend’s race as a chance for redemption.
“We have to perform now that our backs are up against the
wall,” said Peterson, whose team finished second at the West
Regional last year. “It will require a top-three finish
because I’m not sure that if we were fourth that we would
advance (to the NCAA Championships).” The Bruins will need to
markedly improve upon their performance at the Pac-10 Championships
if they hope to qualify for the NCAA Championship meet on Nov. 22
in Terre Haute, Ind. As for No. 1 Stanford and No. 7 Arizona St.,
they both will almost certainly win the two automatic berths
awarded to the top two finishing teams in the region. That leaves
UCLA in a tight battle with No. 17 UC Santa Barbara, No. 25
Washington and Idaho for an at-large bid, which will be announced
Monday after all nine regions have held their races. The at-large
bids are awarded based on the teams’ overall finish at the
regional meet along with their results from races earlier in the
year. “There is a very clear picture of what the task
is,” Peterson said. “All the teams are fairly even. I
think taking third place will be a pretty good prize given the fact
that it will likely lead to an at-large bid.” Given the
results from earlier this year, it will be somewhat of an uphill
battle to claim that prize. The Bruins have lost to both Washington
and Idaho this season, but have not yet met UC Santa Barbara this
season.
Men’s Cross Country: As the women look to
dodge the underachiever label this weekend, the men’s team
will look to make their mark as overachievers. Coming off a
fifth-place finish at the Pac-10 Championships two weeks ago, their
best result in recent history, the Bruins are poised to stake a
claim at the NCAA Championship. UCLA, who finished two points
behind Washington at the Pac-10 Championships, will likely need to
beat out fellow second-tier schools Oregon, University of Portland,
as well as the Huskies in order to qualify for an NCAA at-large
berth. No. 2 Stanford, No. 6 Cal Poly, and No. 8 Arizona State are
the elite teams in the region most likely to receive berths,
leaving the Bruins as one of three other schools battling for a
second at-large bid. Regardless of how the team as a whole
finishes, senior standout John Rankin is expected to qualify for
the NCAA Championships. The top-four finishers from non-qualifying
teams are selected to participate individually at the meet.