Alejandra Barrientos wasn’t in Palo Alto to witness her UCLA women’s cross country teammates capture first place at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday.
That didn’t stop her from being the first to congratulate them.
“She called me right after she saw the results,” coach Eric Peterson said. “She’s excited for the team, but she’s eager to contribute as soon as possible.”
The No. 7 Bruins appear to be faring quite well so far without Barrientos, who is still nursing a back injury that has sidelined her for much of the year. The squad has posted back-to-back first place finishes the last two weeks in meets that have included the likes of No. 1 BYU and No. 2 Stanford.
“We’re one of the most improved teams in America,” said Peterson, whose squad has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the national rankings after checking in at No. 24 in the preseason polls.
“We’re a deeper team than we have been in the past, and so far it has showed in our results.”
What’s surprising about UCLA’s quick start is that the squad’s two most established runners have not competed yet. Barrientos will run unattached at the Triton Classic in San Diego before deciding whether or not to redshirt her junior season, and senior All-American Lena Nilsson may not run at all.
The Swedish native and Olympic hopeful will instead concentrate on her training for the upcoming track and field season, and probably will not rejoin the cross country team this season.
“It’s an Olympic year, and Lena has the opportunity to do some incredibly special things this spring,” Peterson said. “It would be a shame for her to waste that by coming back for one meet, and getting injured.”
With the middle distance duo out of action, some of the less heralded Bruins have picked up the slack.
Redshirt freshmen Ashley Caldwell and Jenna Timinsky have provided an influx of talent to a veteran-laden team that has improved dramatically over the summer.
“I posed a challenge last spring to our long distance runners – Valerie Flores, Carmen Winant, Melissa McBain and Allison Hall – to take some of the burden off our middle distance corps,” Peterson said. “So far they’ve exceeded my expectations.
With an arduous summer of training under their belts, the Bruins look to be on their way to one of their best seasons in recent memory. Although neither Stanford nor BYU brought its full roster the past two weeks, UCLA’s victories still sent the message that it will be a factor at the NCAA Championships in November.
“We’re better than we’ve ever been,” Peterson said. “With or without Lena and Alejandra, I like this team.”