Bruins exceed expectations; Michigan now on itinerary

By Dylan Hernandez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

When cross country coach Eric Peterson first constructed the
2000 season schedule, he had his men’s team penciled in to
compete in the low-key Cal Poly Invitational in San Luis Obispo
this weekend.

But after a string of surprisingly strong performances, Peterson
changed plans and will now take his team to Ann Arbor, Mich., where
the Bruins will race a flight of elite squads in the Wolverine
Interregional.

“The men have exceeded my expectations,” Peterson
said. “They’ve worked so hard.

“It’s important to give the team the best
opportunity to compete interregionally and put some wins on the
board.”

Peterson, the women’s coach for the past six years,
entered his first season with the men without the highest of
expectations.

Noting the absence of a big-time frontrunner, he didn’t
think his team would go very far. He wanted his runners to put
little emphasis on the results and just concentrate on improving
each race.

But junior Bryan Green established himself as UCLA’s
clear-cut No. 1 man, placing no lower than seventh in any of the
team’s meets. While he certainly has not been running at the
levels that former Bruin All-Americans Meb Keflezighi and Mark
Hauser were at, he has helped the Bruins be competitive in all the
races they have been in.

The squad last competed two weeks ago at the Stanford
Invitational and placed third, making its members believe that
getting an at-large bid to the NCAA championships was a
possibility.

Peterson, consequently, got his team into the Wolverine
Interregional so that it would have the chance to beat a few teams
from outside of the West Region and improve its chance to squeeze
into the national finals.

Now, the focus of Peterson’s team has changed.

“We have to think about the results if we’re going
to be competitive,” senior team captain Scott Abbott said.
“If we’re going to spend the athletic
department’s money and go to Michigan, we’re going to
go out and try to do something.”

Green, however, says the team remembers what got it to this
point.

“We’re going to do what we’ve always been
doing, which is concentrating to get better in this race,” he
said. “We can’t look to the future because this is our
future. If we don’t get in the top two at this meet, the
season is over for us (after the West Regional meet).”

Travelling to Michigan along with Abbott and Green will be
seniors Mason Moore and Paul Muite, juniors Justin Patananan and
Andrew Wulf, sophomore Phil Young and true freshman Jon Rankin.

At the Wolverine Interregional, the Bruins will face No. 18
Washington and host No. 19 Michigan, Tennessee and Texas.