Runners take break to build strength, on and off track

Wednesday, October 22, 1997

Runners take break to build strength, on and off track

NOTEBOOK Women begin readying for Pac-10 meet, regional
tourney

By Jared Hummel

Daily Bruin Contributor

Ranked 13th and coming off a much improved performance from the
preceding week, the UCLA women’s cross-country team will enjoy a
much-needed rest this weekend. Head coach Eric Peterson will field
a team on Saturday in Pomona for the Bronco Invitational, but the
top seven runners will have the weekend off.

The athletes who will compete in Pomona are either
middle-distance runners who will use the meet to build aerobic
strength for the track season or runners who have yet to compete
but might be deployed in the next three weeks.

Peterson commented that he would modify the training schedule
for the weeks before the Pac-10 meet and the regionals.

"From a training perspective, this is really the most fun time
of the season for me and the athletes as well," Peterson said.
"Much of the cross-country season at times feels like drudgery
because the number of miles that the athletes log weekly is really
high … the peak of that high-volume training has passed and we’re
on our way to reducing the amount of miles that they run each week
and increasing the level of intensity."

It’s been nine years since the women’s cross-country team has
qualified for the national championships.

Coming into the season with one of the nation’s top distance
runners in Kim Mortensen and a talented, although inexperienced,
supporting cast – the outlook was grand. However, a recent
season-ending back injury to Mortensen has forced the rest of the
team to turn up the intensity level to compensate for her loss.

The result: A competitive second place finish to the University
of Oregon at the Oregon Invitational.

The goal for the rest of the season: UCLA must beat out Oregon
and all the other schools in the region to secure a No. 2 spot
(conceding the No. 1 position to Stanford) to win a trip to the
national championships in South Carolina.

Senior Katherina Kechris has firmly established herself as the
No. 1 runner (now that Mortensen is out) as she is enjoying the
finest season of her career. Kechris turned in her best race in the
5,000-meter on Sunday, where she finished ninth overall at
17:29.

Another runner who has gone far beyond expectations in the eyes
of Peterson is true freshman Katie Nuanes.

Nuanes finished 22d on Sunday with a time of 18:02, and turned
in notable performances earlier in the season at the Aztec
Invitational (placing 12th) and second on the team at the NCAA
Preview, 68th overall.