UCLA cross country floors first meet, men claim top 10 finishes, women claim top six
Racing at 7,800 feet in Mammoth Lakes, California, freshman Emma Tavella claimed the top spot in her first collegiate race. The Danville, California, native finished the four kilometer course with a time of 15:05.63. (Courtesy of Don Liebig/UCLA Athletics)
By Vinny Lavalsiti
Sept. 2, 2019 4:11 p.m.
The Bruins donned their racing singlets for the first time this season.
UCLA cross country defeated UC Riverside in its first meet of the season Saturday in Mammoth Lakes, California. The Bruin men claimed the top 10 finishes of the race with the women capturing the top six times.
Assistant coach Devin Elizondo said the goal for the race had two components: to battle the UC Riverside runners and the high altitude.
“Racing is hard, (but) then you throw in 7,800 feet of elevation, it gets pretty tough real quick,” Elizondo said. “I thought the best thing overall on both the men’s and women’s side was our poise that we competed with. … It was definitely the ‘strength in numbers’ attitude.”
Freshman Emma Tavella took the first-place finish in the women’s 4,000-meter race in her first collegiate competition. The Danville, California native had her senior season cut short because of a debilitating parasitic virus.
“I was really happy (with my finish) because I had just a horrible end to my senior season, having to stop the season early because I got this virus,” Tavella said. “Today really showed me that all that hard work and training I put in over the summer has paid off. … To be able to come in and run how I did was really reassuring to me. It gave me confidence that I do belong here at UCLA.”
At the sound of the gun, Tavella said the UCLA women were pushed by UC Riverside at a faster-than-ideal pace, fearing the possibility of entering oxygen debt. Nine Bruin runners stuck as a pack for the first two of three loops of the trail until Tavella decided to kick it up a notch.
“I was really nervous,” Tavella said. “I went into it thinking, ‘Just do the best you can do – that’s all you can do.’ I didn’t set any expectations for myself and just raced. … I was like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to take the risk.'”
Tavella crossed the finish line with a time of 15:05.63 and was followed by a string of five UCLA runners within the next 40 seconds.
Placing second and third were redshirt junior Lilly Schmidt and junior Paige Carter. Elizondo said it was the two upperclassmen runners who helped push the pack and led Tavella to her first collegiate race win.
“The older women protected (Tavella) very well,” Elizondo said. “Our veteran women took the lead and pacing duties, and she was able to outpace everyone late, but that was the result of some really solid team running and then her being able to find the savviness to outdistance herself from the group over the last half to three-quarters of a mile.”
Elizondo said he sat several UCLA veteran runners including senior Robert Brandt and junior Erika Adler in the opening race to keep their legs fresh for more meaningful races in the latter half of the season.
The winner of the men’s 5,000 meter race – redshirt senior Colin Burke – crossed the finish line with a time of 16:16.06. The next four Bruins hustled in within the next two seconds. Burke said the team’s stay in Mammoth Lakes served as a litmus test for the Bruins’ progress with their summer training.
“This weekend was mostly a trial run and to make sure we keep developing our depth,” Burke said. “It was a fitness check to see how summer training has been going.”
UCLA will split the cross country squad in its next meet on Sept. 28 when it travels to The Master’s University XC Invitational in Santa Clarita, California, and the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Eugene, Oregon.
