Saturday, September 24
St. Paul, Minn.
10:20 AM
UCLA
vs
Roy Griak Invitational
The Bruins head to Minnesota to compete in the Griak Invitational.
Cross Country Travels to Griak Invitational
September 23, 2016 | Cross Country
LOS ANGELES โ The UCLA cross country team will head to the 31st Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota. The meet is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24 and will be held on the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn.
The Merrill Fischbein Men's Gold Competition will start things off at 10:20 a.m. PTย and the Jack Johnson Women's Gold (Division I) Competition is scheduled for 11:20 a.m. PT.ย
"This is the first test of the 2016 season for us," UCLA cross country coach Forest Braden said. "We will see where we are at after a long of preseason training. I know we are a deeper team on both the men's and women's side than we have been in my seven plus years here, but this will show us how good we are up front and what we need to do better to compete with the best teams in the country."ย
According to the USTFCCCA Division I national coaches poll week twoย rankings, nine of the women's teams in the Griak field land among the nation's top 30: No. 6 Boise State, No. 9 Michigan State, No. 10 Michigan, No. 13 Penn State, No. 17 Iowa State, No. 20 San Francisco, No. 25 Minnesota, No. 29 Mississippi State, and No. 30 Portland.
"For the women we should have a really nice pack from 1-5 and another great pack from 6-10," Braden explained. "We need to run together the first half of the race and finish the last couple kilometers fast in order to compete with the top teams. We are looking to be led by Emily Scharmann, who is our clear cut leader of the squad. Also of note we have three freshmen opening up for the first time ever in Bruin uniforms (Markey, Durgy, Baird). This will be Claire Markey's first cross country race ever."
In the men's competition eight of 30 teams entered into this year's Merrill Fischbein Men's Gold Competition were nationally ranked after the first week of competition by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
"We should be led by fifth years Austin O'Neil, Ferdinand Edman and Jonah Diaz," Braden said. "All three are fit, tough and experienced. The rest of our 10 racers will be right on their heels. We need to make sure our 4-7th runners are packed together. This will impact hugely our overall results."
Boise State leads the pack at No. 17 followed by Michigan at 18, Oklahoma at 19, Portland at 22, Furman at 23, Colorado State at 24, Southern Utah at 25 and Michigan State at 30.
The Bruins opened the season while training in the Mammoth Lakes area once again. UCLA make the drive to Reno to compete in the Nature's Bakery Twilight Classic.
The men's squad handled their business in the season opener as the Bruins placed all seven in the top nine.ย Daniel De La Torreย won the competition on the 5K course in a time of 15:55.ย Jackie Garner led the women's team with a 13th place finish in a time of 15:37 on the 4k course.
The Bruins will compete in their closest meet to Westwood next Saturday, Oct. 1. The Mustang Challenge will be held at Central Park in Santa Clarita, Calif.
ย
The Merrill Fischbein Men's Gold Competition will start things off at 10:20 a.m. PTย and the Jack Johnson Women's Gold (Division I) Competition is scheduled for 11:20 a.m. PT.ย
"This is the first test of the 2016 season for us," UCLA cross country coach Forest Braden said. "We will see where we are at after a long of preseason training. I know we are a deeper team on both the men's and women's side than we have been in my seven plus years here, but this will show us how good we are up front and what we need to do better to compete with the best teams in the country."ย
According to the USTFCCCA Division I national coaches poll week twoย rankings, nine of the women's teams in the Griak field land among the nation's top 30: No. 6 Boise State, No. 9 Michigan State, No. 10 Michigan, No. 13 Penn State, No. 17 Iowa State, No. 20 San Francisco, No. 25 Minnesota, No. 29 Mississippi State, and No. 30 Portland.
"For the women we should have a really nice pack from 1-5 and another great pack from 6-10," Braden explained. "We need to run together the first half of the race and finish the last couple kilometers fast in order to compete with the top teams. We are looking to be led by Emily Scharmann, who is our clear cut leader of the squad. Also of note we have three freshmen opening up for the first time ever in Bruin uniforms (Markey, Durgy, Baird). This will be Claire Markey's first cross country race ever."
In the men's competition eight of 30 teams entered into this year's Merrill Fischbein Men's Gold Competition were nationally ranked after the first week of competition by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
"We should be led by fifth years Austin O'Neil, Ferdinand Edman and Jonah Diaz," Braden said. "All three are fit, tough and experienced. The rest of our 10 racers will be right on their heels. We need to make sure our 4-7th runners are packed together. This will impact hugely our overall results."
Boise State leads the pack at No. 17 followed by Michigan at 18, Oklahoma at 19, Portland at 22, Furman at 23, Colorado State at 24, Southern Utah at 25 and Michigan State at 30.
The Bruins opened the season while training in the Mammoth Lakes area once again. UCLA make the drive to Reno to compete in the Nature's Bakery Twilight Classic.
The men's squad handled their business in the season opener as the Bruins placed all seven in the top nine.ย Daniel De La Torreย won the competition on the 5K course in a time of 15:55.ย Jackie Garner led the women's team with a 13th place finish in a time of 15:37 on the 4k course.
The Bruins will compete in their closest meet to Westwood next Saturday, Oct. 1. The Mustang Challenge will be held at Central Park in Santa Clarita, Calif.
ย
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