Team optimistic about Pac-10 meet

  NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Senior Gina
Donnelly runs for the Bruins at a meet at Cal State
Fullerton. The team will compete at the Pac-10 Championships on
Saturday in Washington, and is hoping to win one of the four NCAA
finals berths from the Western Region.

By Dylan Hernandez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

More than a month detached from their ghastly 18th-place showing
at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota, the women’s cross
country team heads into Saturday’s Pac-10 Championships in
Washington with a renewed sense of confidence.

Since Griak, the Bruins have finished sixth at the highly
competitive Stanford Invite and have won meets at Penn State and
Fullerton.

“The atmosphere is really, really positive,”
sophomore Kelly Grimes said. “We keep getting better, and we
still haven’t put out our best performance.”

Head coach Eric Peterson estimates that four teams will make it
to the NCAA finals from the Western Region, which will hold its own
championship meet in two weeks. To clearly establish itself as a
top-four squad from the area, Peterson hopes his team can come in
at least fourth on Saturday.

While Peterson admits Stanford, Arizona State and Washington
have clearly separated themselves from the rest of the field, he
feels his team can be competitive with everyone else.

“I don’t know how we match up against Arizona, but
I’m excited,” he said. “And I don’t feel
we’re behind Oregon at all.”

Stanford, ranked second in the country, will be led by sophomore
Erin Sullivan, who won the Pac-10 finals last year. Sullivan, the
1998 national high school champion, will be teamed with the 1999
prep champion, freshman Victoria Chang. In addition, the Cardinal
will be boosted by the return of All-American Julia Stamps.

No. 4 Arizona State will be carried by Lisa Aguilera, one of the
favorites to take the individual crown, while No. 6 Washington will
rely on a close-knit top five.

No. 8 Arizona will hand its front-running duties to Griak
champion Tara Chaplin.

The Bruins will be led once again by senior captain Christina
Bowen, who has been their No. 1 runner in every race this season,
with the exception of Griak.

Following closely behind her all season has been fellow senior
Katie Nuanes.

Filling out the other seven spots on the UCLA roster will be
senior Gina Donnelly, junior Bridie Hatch, and sophomores Grimes,
Melissa McBain and Julia Barbour.

“We feel we’ve grown since Minnesota,” Bowen
said. “If everyone runs as well as they’ve been
running, we’ll do well.”