Men’s cross country qualifies for national championship
By Matt Cummings
Nov. 16, 2015 9:46 a.m.
There were no surprises for the cross country team on Saturday when the NCAA announced the qualifiers for next weekend’s national championship meet.
As expected, the No. 20 men’s team received an at-large bid and freshman Carolina Johnson qualified as an individual on the women’s side.
The announcement came the day after the Bruins competed in the West Region Championships on the Jefferson Golf Course in Seattle. The men, in a somewhat disappointing showing, finished seventh in the region.
With junior Ferdinand Edman and senior Nick Hartle sitting out, UCLA was outpaced by not just the region’s top-tier teams of Stanford, Oregon and Washington, but also by three lower-ranked teams: Washington State, Boise State and California.
Senior Sergey Sushchikh crossed the line first for the Bruins, placing ninth overall, followed by senior Lane Werley in 16th.
Johnson ran impressively in the women’s 6K race, finishing 11th overall to secure the individual bid to the national meet. Competing for just the third time in her collegiate career, the freshman was one of four runners from the West Region to qualify individually.
Johnson and the men’s team will compete at the E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday in a competition broadcast live online at NCAA.com.
Compiled by Matt Cummings, Bruin Sports senior staff.
