UCLA
NCAA West Region Championships
Kyle Shackleton Leads UCLA Men to 6th-Place finish at West Region Championships
November 12, 2006 | Cross Country
Nov. 12, 2006
The UCLA men's cross country team posted an impressive performance at the NCAA West Region Championships in Portland, OR on Saturday as the team finished sixth behind Kyle Shackleton's 16th-place finish. The Bruins scored 167 points, while the Oregon men won the meet with 69 points. Neftalem Araia of Stanford won the individual title.
Shackleton, a junior, was UCLA's number one runner all season and finished 16th in a time of 30:37.83 on the 10k course Saturday.
Sophomore Laef Barnes was the No. 2 runner for UCLA, finishing 26th in a time of 31:07.29. Junior Mike Haddan was 33rd, running 31:14.62, while sophomore Drew Shackleton was 41st in a time of 31:33.17.
Freshman Marlon Patterson had a breakthrough performance, finishing 52nd in a time of 31:49.30 as UCLA's fifth runner. Fellow freshmen Jake Matthews (78th, 32:34.37) and Alex Crabill (86th, 32:47.93) rounded out the Bruin competitors.
"It's so gratifying from a coaching standpoint to get to this point in the season and have your teams come up with the best performance of the year, and indeed that was the case today," said Cross Country Coach Eric Peterson. "We beat a number of ranked teams today, and in doing so, have put ourselves in a good position to be considered for one of the at-large team bids that will be selected on Sunday for the NCAA Championships.
"I'm very proud of the effort and the competitiveness of the guys today. We were well aware of what we were up against going into the meet, and I feel they answered that challenge very well."
The NCAA Championship field will be announced on Sunday around 4:00 pm (PST) on the NCAA Championships website.
Team Results (top-5 of 25)
1. Oregon, 69 points; 2. Stanford, 88 points; 3. Portland, 123 points; 4. Washington, 139 points; 5. Arizona, 156 points.
Individual Results (top-5 of 164 runners)
1. Neftalem Araia, Stanford (30:05.88); 2. Aaron Aguayo, Arizona State (30:13.61); 3. Obed Mutanya, Arizona (30:14.64); 4. Galen Rupp, Oregon (30:14.94); 5. Jeremy Mineau, Washington (30:15.34).
UCLA Results
16. Kyle Shackleton, 30:37.83; 26. Laef Barnes, 31:07.29; 33. Mike Haddan, 31:14.62; 41. Drew Shackleton, 31:33.17; 52. Marlon Patterson, 31:49.30; 78. Jake Matthews, 32:34.37; 86. Alex Crabill, 32:47.93.
