UCLA demands notice in Pac-10

Monday, October 19, 1998

UCLA demands notice in Pac-10

Runners show strong start in invitational, prove to be big title
contenders

By Donald Morrison

Daily Bruin Contributor

With the Pacific 10 Conference Championships only two weeks
away, the UCLA men’s cross country team wants to show the rest of
the conference that it’s not another team to overlook.

The Bruins easily won the Triton Invitational on Saturday in San
Diego and received strong individual performances from its top
runners.

Senior Mark Hauser had a big race as he smashed the course
record en route to winning the invitational race.

Hauser broke the 8,000-meter (5 mile) course record of 24
minutes, 31 seconds, set last year, with a winning time of 24:07.
Hauser led the race for a good half mile and dominated the entire
field, setting a personal record as well. Hauser’s win and course
record resulted from training hard the entire week and taking no
day off last week to relax for the race. The Friday before the
race, Hauser ran six miles in the morning and then five miles in
the afternoon.

‘It was a great race for him,’ head coach Bob Larsen said. ‘It
was pretty spectacular. It’s the strongest I’ve seen him run. He
didn’t show any strain at any point during the race. He finished
hard and strong.’

Running in perhaps two of his best cross country races in his
collegiate career, Hauser will now begin training for the most
difficult race of the season ­ the Pac-10 Championships.
Hauser will race against two of the nation’s top three runners.

Bernard Lagat of Washington State and Brad Hauser of Stanford
are the favorites to win the conference meet. Lagat is last year’s
champion, and Brad Hauser is the defending NCAA 10,000-meter
champion.

Stanford’s Brent Hauser, Brad’s twin brother, will also pose
challenges, as will other runners from Arizona and Washington.
Larsen feels, however, that UCLA’s Hauser is in good enough
physical shape to stay with the leaders.

‘Hauser’s ready to run with those guys for most of the race,’
Larsen said. ‘I’m getting optimistic because he’s closing the gap
between him and those other runners. We can’t count him out of
being in the top five. Now, it would mental challenge to see if he
can move up to that level.’

Hauser isn’t the only Bruin to have a big race. Sophomore Paul
Muite finished third in 25:04.He was outleaned at the finish and
narrowly missed finishing second. Muite was in contention for
second place with a mile left but fell back with a little over a
half mile left to go before catching up near the finish line.

‘(Muite) continues to improve and he worked hard this week,’
Larsen said. ‘He wanted to push it and did just that.’

Mason Moore returned to action for the Bruins and placed seventh
in 25:42. He also scored for UCLA and should be an important factor
at the upcoming conference championships.

Scott Abbott, from UCLA’s ‘B’ team, ran in ninth place with a
time of 25:47. Though recovering from injuries, Abbott ran strongly
throughout the whole race. Will Bernaldo, who has been on
antibiotics this week because of an illness, was the fifth Bruin to
place in the top 10 as he finished 10th.

Bryan Green placed 13th and Ryan Larson finished 25th. And
freshman Justin Pantananan came in 29th while sophomore Andrew Wulf
finished 30th. UCLA didn’t run Matt Pitts, Dan Brecht or Martin
Brix, however, so the trio could take the day off to rest for the
Pac-10 meet.

‘This is probably the most loaded the Pac-10 Conference has been
in awhile,’ Larsen said. ‘Last year, it was pretty good, but this
year seems better.’

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