UCLA
NCAA Championships
UCLA Men Head to Cross Country Championships
November 16, 2017 | Cross Country
2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships
Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017 โ 7:00 a.m. (ET)ย *TIME CHANGED DUE TO EXPECTED WEATHER*
Louisville, K.Y. (E.P Tom Sawyer State Park)
Broadcast: FloTrack.com (subscription required)
Live Results: Record Timing
BRUINS TO COMPETE AT NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
The UCLA men's cross country team will head to Louisville, K.Y. for the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships. The national meet will be held on Saturday, November 18 at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park and is hosted by the University of Louisville. The Bruin men will be competing at the NCAA Championships for the fourth consecutive year.
CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
9:00 a.m. ET / 6:00 a.m. PT - Women's 6k Championship Race
10:00ย a.m. ET / 7:00 a.m. PT - Men's 10k Championship Race
THE CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD
Coming off a fifth-place showing at the NCAA West Regional Championships, the UCLA men enter the weekend 16th in the USTFCCCA National Poll. The Bruins were also able to able to rest No. 1 runner Robert Brandt at Regionals, who will lead the UCLA squad at full strength. The Bruin men compete against a field headlined by top-ranked Northern Arizona, Northeast Region champions Syracuse (3), and Pac-12 opponents Colorado (5) and Stanford (6).
A LOOK AT THE BRUIN MEN
The UCLA men have enjoyed consistent team success this season, as the Bruins have posted Top-5 team finishes (including one meet victory) in all but one meet in which they have competed. The Bruins have shown a commitment to strong front-running and pack-running, as UCLA has placed a runner in the Top-10 and the remaining four scoring runners in the Top-35 in five of seven meets this season.
Junior transfer Robert Brandt and sophomore Garrett Reynolds have led the Bruins all season, as each runner has finished as UCLA's first or second runner in each of the meets in which they have competed. Brandt has posted three Top-10 finishes this season, including a sixth-place showing at the Pac-12 Championships (8k). Reynolds has four Top-15 finishes his credit, most notably a 14th-place showing at the West Regionals (10k) and a second-place finish in the 8k at the Roy Griak Invite.
The Bruins have also shown their depth on the men's side, with five different student-athletes leading the men's squad UCLA's seven competitions thus far โ Jackson Marshall (George Kyte Classic), Reynolds (Roy Griak Invitational and NCAA West Regionals), Millen Trujillo (Master's University Invitational), Brandt (Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and Pac-12 Championships), and Carter Blunt (Bronco Invitational).
LAST YEAR AT THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2016 NCAA Championships saw the Bruin men finish 15th overall and the UCLA women take 28th. Ferdinand Edman led the men's squad with a 14th-place finish, the highest UCLA individual finish since Meb Keflizighi won the 1997 National Championships. Garrett Reynolds finished 126th with a time of 31:05.0 on the 10k course and Colin Burke followed in 141st. The UCLA women were led by Carolina Johnson, who finished 59th with a time of 20:36.2 in the 6k. Claire Markey and Cassandra Durgy made their NCAA Championships debuts, finishing in 91st and 164th, respectively.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
UCLA has appeared in 23 NCAA Championships, with 12 showings on the men's side and 11 in the women's competition. The UCLA men's squad reached peak finishes at Nationals in 1980-81, with back-to-back fifth-place showings under legendary Bruin coach Bob Larsen. The Bruin women's squad's best finish came in 1985, when they took sixth under coach Bob Messina. American distance running legend and UCLA alumnus Meb Keflezighi holds the Bruins' only individual NCAA title, as he took home the 1997 National Championship, a year in which he also won the NCAA West Regional title.
NCAA WEST REGIONALS RECAP
The UCLA men's cross country team finished fifth at the 2017 NCAA West Regionals and the Bruin women's squad placed 12th. The fifth-place showing earned the Bruin men an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. Without top runner Robert Brandt, UCLA was led by sophomore Garrett Reynolds, who finished 14th with a 10k time of 29:50.1. Senior Daniel De La Torre (30:13.6) crossed as UCLA's second runner, finishing 33rd overall. Junior Jackson Marshall (30:18.4), redshirt sophomore Colin Burke (30:18.4), and senior Myles Smith (30:19.5) combined to go 38-40 to complete the Bruins' Top-5. The Bruin women finished their season with a 12th-place finish at Regionals. UCLA was led in the 6k by Cassandra Durgy, who crossed as the Bruins' top runner for the first time this season. Her time of 20:52.1 was good for 51st place. Sophomore Claire Markey was close behind, finishing 56th with a time 20:55.2 in only her second competition of the season. Freshman Erika Adler (20:58.3) took 60th overall. Junior Jackie Garner (21:23.4) was the Bruins' fourth runner at 85th overall, and freshman Christina Rice (21:33.0) filled out UCLA's scoring five with a 92nd-place finish.
PAC-12 RECAP
The UCLA cross country teams got their postseason campaign started at the Pac-12 Championships, with the UCLA men taking third and the Bruin women finishing eighth overall. Junior transfer Robert Brandt led the men's squad with a sixth-place finish and an 8k time of 23:55.9. Sophomore Garrett Reynolds (24:08.3) finished 14th overall and Junior Jackson Marshall (24:16.5) took 23rd place. Senior Myles Smith was the Bruins' fourth runner, finishing in 26th place with a time of 24:23.5. Redshirt sophomore Colin Burke (24:23.5) took 35th overall, completing UCLA's scoring five. The UCLA women were led by freshman Erika Adler, who took 22nd place with a 5k time of 19:31.5. Sophomores Cassandra Durgy (20:07.9) and Claire Markey (20:22.0) finished 43rd and 52nd, respectively. A pair of true freshmen rounded out UCLA's Top-5, as Christina Rice (20:23.9) and Kira Loren (20:53.2) took 54th and 71st overall, respectively.
BRUIN ACCOLADES
All-Region
Garrett Reynolds
First Team All-Pac-12
Robert Brandt
Second Team All-Pac-12
Garrett Reynolds
Players Mentioned
