Oct. 10, 2000

Eric Peterson's UCLA men's cross country team will travel to Ann Arbor, MIand compete on Sunday (Oct. 15) in the Wolverine Interregional, hosted by theUniversity of Michigan. The 8000m race will be held on the Michigan Golf Courseand start at 8:15 a.m. (PST). The Bruin women will train through the weekendand not travel to an invitational.

The Wolverine Interregional is a schedule change for the Bruins. UCLA wasoriginally scheduled to travel to the Cal Poly-SLO Invite on Oct. 14. The meetin Ann Arbor will give the Bruin men an opportunity to race against some of thenation's top squads. Along with UCLA and host Michigan, rated No. 19 in the U.S., other nationally prominent squads include No. 18 Washington, Tennessee andTexas. UCLA's men did not compete in an invitational last Saturday (Oct. 7).

Traveling for UCLA to the Wolverine Interregional are seniors, ScottAbbott, Mason Moore and Paul Muite, juniors, Bryan Green, Justin Patanananand Andrew Wulf, sophomore Phil Young and freshman Jon Rankin.

Green, from Littlerock HS in Palmdale, has been the Bruins' leader thisseason. In four invitationals this season, he has placed no lower than seventh 'sixth (25:26.40) at the CS Fullerton Invite (Sept. 2), fourth (26:04) at theAztec Invite in San Diego (Sept. 16), seventh (24:33.52) at the Sun DodgerInvite in Seattle (Sept. 23) and seventh (25:26) at the Stanford Invite (Sept.30).

'This will be a good meet for our men's team because of the stronginterregional competition,' said Peterson, in his first season of coaching boththe Bruin men's and women's cross country teams. 'So far this season we havebeaten teams that in the past have given us trouble, but we need to run againsteven stronger competition for us to be considered as a potential at-large teamfor the NCAA. If we run well as a team on Sunday in Ann Arbor, that will helpget us that consideration.'

Last Saturday (Oct. 7) at University Park, PA, the Bruin women won the PennState Invitational. UCLA placed first in the five-team field, winning with 38points. Behind the Bruins were Central Michigan (48), Penn State (61), Navy (74)and St. Francis (145).

UCLA was led by seniors, Christina Bowen and Katie Nuanes. Bowen placedsecond on the 6000m Penn State campus course in a time of 21:27.34 and Nuaneswas third, 21:28.92. Navy's Melissa Foon won the women's individual title, witha time of 21:23.37.

The Bruins placed two other runners in the Top 10, sophomores, Kelly Grimes(7th, 22:12.12) and Melissa McBain (10th, 22:17.65). Senior Gina Donnelly (16th,22:33.98) was UCLA's fifth team scorer.

The Bruins' other runners were junior Bridie Hatch (22nd, 22:48.62),freshman Valerie Flores (27th, 23:02.96) and sophomore Julia Barbour (35th,23:16.20).

Bowen, from San Ramon HS in Danville, has been UCLA's leader this fall. Infour of UCLA's five invitationals, she has been the Bruins' top runner,including individual collegiate victories at the CS Fullerton (17:34.30,5000m)and Aztec (17:53,5000m) Invites.

'Our women's team has put our disappointing finish at the Griak Invite inMinneapolis (Sept. 23) behind us,' said Peterson, in his seventh season coachingthe Bruin women. 'I'm impressed with the way this team has improved since thatmeet. Our athletes have worked hard and really come together the last two weeks.

'We proved we can travel this young team a long distance and get a goodperformance,' he said. 'At Penn State, we got lifetime performances from Katie(Nuanes), Kelly (Grimes) and Melissa (McBain).

Looking ahead, after the Titan Invite at Fullerton on Oct. 20, the Bruinwomen and men will be preparing for their two most important meets of the season' Oct. 28, at the Pacific-10 Championship in Seattle, WA and Nov. 11, at theNCAA West Region Qualifying in Fresno.