Wednesday, October 1, 1997
Top UCLA runners Mortenson, Keflezighi plagued by injuries
Keflizighi wins, women place fourth in tournament
By Donald Morrison
Daily Bruin Contributor
Despite running without No. 1 runner Kim Mortensen, who sat out due to injuries, the UCLA women's cross-country team managed to finish fourth at the 19-team Stanford Invitational.
Stanford won the race in a dominating fashion, placing five runners in the top nine places and scoring 22 points.
Julia Stamps of Stanford won the race by a comfortable margin of 18 seconds with a time of 16:47. Her teammate and last year's runner-up in the 5000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Mary Cobb, finished in second with a time of 17:05. Another Cardinal runner, Sarna Renfro, placed third.
A strong Brigham Young team came in second with 54 points and a solid Georgetown team placed third with 109 points. UCLA finished with 118 points and California had 215 points to round out the top five teams.
The Bruins were led by senior Katherina Kechris. Kechris was UCLA's top finisher of the day, placing 15th overall with a time of 17:56. Freshman Julie Ott followed Kechris, finishing with a time of 18:03 - which was good enough for 19th place.
Katie Nuanes, another freshman, placed 28th with a time of 18:24. Kelly Cohn and Melinda George ended the race in 31st and 32nd place, respectively, with times of 18:28 and 18:32.
Christina Bowen also managed to crack the 19:00 mark for UCLA, finishing in 55th with a time of 18:58. Kara Barnard was the seventh runner for UCLA and finished with a time of 19:43.
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Mebrahtom Keflezighi, the top runner for on the men's side, has slight tendonitis in his left knee and has been limiting his mileage to between 50 and 65 miles a week.
However, Keflezighi's knee has been holding up well the past few weeks and he is expected to up his mileage and do workouts twice a day this week, said UCLA head coach Bob Larsen.
Keflezighi's tendonitis in his left knee did not hamper his winning performance, however, at the Stanford Invitational.
His win there was his third victory at Stanford's golf course.
He won the Stanford Invitational title last year and also won the 1996 Pac-10 Championships, held on the Stanford course, setting a new course record of 23:45 over 8000 meters. Keflezighi will get a chance to win for the fourth time at Stanford in November, when UCLA competes in the Pac-10 Championships.
Also, competing at Stanford were Mason Moore, Will Bernaldo, Paul Muite and Ryan Larson. Moore placed 63rd with a time of 26:35. Bernaldo placed 73rd and Muite was right behind him, finishing in 74th. Larson ran a personal best time at Stanford, running 27:00 and finishing in 81st.
Mark Hauser's time of 24:57 was the first time he has run an 8000 meter race under the time of 25 minutes.
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Cross-country workouts can be cross-training workouts as well. Devin Elizondo worked out in the pool one day last week to prepare for the race at Stanford and Larsen says that more runners will be doing pool workouts once or twice a week to prepare for big races ahead.
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UCLA will compete at the NCAA Championship Preview meet on October 11 in Greenville, SC. This annual race features some of the nation's most competitive teams. To prepare for this race, many of UCLA's runners will be running a little farther during practice this week.
"This week, we're doing high mileage and emphasizing volume," Larsen said. "Next week, we're dropping the mileage and doing high intensity workouts so we'll be more rested than were for the Stanford meet."Keflezighi's tendonitis in his left knee did not hamper his winning performance at the Stanford Invitational.