Men’s, women’s cross country teams flourish at Mustang Challenge
Sophomore runner Myles Smith paced the field at Saturday’s Mustang Challenge, winning the 8K race in just over 25 minutes. The No. 13 Bruins took first place in their second competition of the fall season. (UCLA Athletics)
By Matt Cummings
Sept. 24, 2015 8:56 a.m.
Josh Rosen is the most well-known UCLA athlete from St. John Bosco High School. But he was not the most successful this past Saturday.
Cross country runner sophomore Myles Smith, another Bosco alum, paced the field at Saturday’s Mustang Challenge, turning an early lead into a 14-second victory in the 8K race.
Smith, UCLA’s fifth-best finisher at last year’s national meet, ran the course in 25:00.68 and helped the No. 13 Bruins take first place out of 18 teams in their second competition this fall.
Teammates Jackson Marshall and Max Davis joined Smith in the top 10. Marshall, a redshirt freshman, placed fourth (25:18.19) and Davis, a sophomore, finished sixth (25:26.85).
Senior Sergey Sushchikh, who set the course record with a 24:50.11 at the 2013 Mustang Challenge, did not run on Saturday as coach Forest Braden continued to hold most of his top runners out of action.
The unranked women’s team produced a solid showing at the Mustang Challenge, finishing second behind Loyola Marymount. Freshman Taylor Taite, running in her first race as a Bruin, led the team with a 10th-place finish (18:10.78) on the 5K course.
Senior Aliya Shirif, the team’s top runner at nationals last year, placed 15th (18:18.02) and freshman Julia Rizk crossed the line in 20th (18:22.86).
Both teams will be inactive this weekend before competing in the Oct. 2 Washington Invitational in Seattle, where the men’s team finished second and the women’s team finished fourth last year.
