Cross country falls short at Pac-12 Championships

Forest Braden had high hopes heading into Friday’s Pac-12 Championships.

But the men’s cross country team failed to live up to the coach’s expectations, finishing fifth at the conference meet for the second straight year.

“I thought we could be in that top three,” Braden said. “I thought we could upset Stanford or Oregon.”

Instead of springing an upset, the No. 15 Bruins were upset themselves, ending up behind the No. 20 Washington Huskies.

“I didn’t expect Washington to beat us, although they are a good team,” Braden said. “They really brought it. They ran with that desire, you could see it, they just ran very aggressive and they went for it. … We just didn’t execute, we didn’t run as tough as we should have, and Washington did.”

Senior runner Lane Werley paced UCLA with a fifth-place individual finish, the best Pac-12 result by a UCLA runner since Werley finished in the same spot at the 2012 conference meet. Braden said he was excited to have his star back in top shape – Werley finished just 48th at last year’s conference as he dealt with back and hamstring troubles.

“Lane was much better this year,” Braden said. “And he actually had a tough week, he was feeling pretty bad before the race. The thing about Lane is he just finds a way to get it done regardless of how he’s feeling. … I feel like he can run a lot better at the national meet.”

Braden said he expects better performances from the whole team at the national meet mid-November.

“I see us still being in that top 10 (nationally),” Braden said. “That’s definitely the goal, I think it would be disappointing for us as a team if we weren’t. … I think we can have several All-Americans and it’ll kind of come down to our two-three-four (runners), really that middle-of-the-pack.”

In Friday’s race, the Bruins’ middle-tier runners finished respectably. Senior Sergey Sushchikh came in at 25th overall, followed by senior Nick Hartle in 28th, junior Jonah Diaz in 34th and sophomore Myles Smith in 35th. It was Hartle’s best race of the year, an encouraging sign for Braden as the team looks forward.

Missing from that group of runners was senior Sean Davis, who went to the emergency room the day before with a bout of food poisoning. Braden said Davis has run well in the past two weeks and should be one of the Bruins’ top-five runners at the West Regional meet on Nov. 13.

In addition to the return of Davis at regionals and nationals, Braden also expects to utilize junior Ferdinand Edman, who has been out of action this year after suffering a stress fracture during the track season. Edman had planned to run for the first time at the Pac-12 meet, but felt pain in his shin in the days leading up to the race.

Both runners should help the senior-laden UCLA team improve upon its performance at Pac-12s.

“Everyone’s very confident in what we can do,” Braden said. “So there’s no panic with these seniors. It’s more of an experienced crew that’s telling each other we’ve got to do better, we know we can be better. So let’s go and do what we can do and let’s maximize our potential.”

The postseason has an entirely different meaning for the women’s team – the Bruins, who finished ninth at the conference meet, are all, but eliminated from national contention, but freshman standout Carolina Johnson should qualify for an individual spot at the nationals.

The ninth-place finish at Pac-12s was largely a result of weak showings from the team’s older runners. After Johnson finished ninth overall, the next Bruin runner did not check in until junior Ashlee Powers came in at 65th.

Braden praised Powers for a gritty performance, but said he was disappointed by some of the other older runners.

“I really want to see a lot more from our seniors,” Braden said. “Our number two runner – it was the furthest back a number two runner of ours has been since I’ve been here, in seven seasons. That really hurt us.”

“We’ve had, in the past, girls step up and be in the top 25, top 20, that weren’t expected to. And so I look at our seniors to do that. I look at our seniors and juniors to step up in a bigger way and take care of this team and so far they haven’t done that.”

Braden said he hasn’t seen enough desire from his runners during races.

“They’re settling for mediocrity instead of having the desire,” Braden said. “That willingness to push through anything that comes in their way, the willingness to just be the best that they possibly can be.”

Braden said that criticism does not apply to Johnson, who exhibits extreme amounts of determination.

“She’s the only person on the ladies team who wants it for herself more than I want it for her,” Braden said. “She’s very hard on herself and she wants to be the best. She doesn’t settle for ninth place, she’s not happy with ninth place.”

Compiled by Matt Cummings, Bruin Sports senior staff.