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Cross country races against top-ranked teams at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational

Junior Christina Rice and the women of UCLA cross country placed 33rd overall out of 36 teams at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Friday. Rice finished 48th – the best time for the women. (Courtesy of UCLA Athletics)

By Vinny Lavalsiti

Oct. 20, 2019 2:44 p.m.

This post was updated Oct. 20 at 11:58 p.m.

The Bruins ran alongside over 200 runners and two-thirds of the top-ranked teams in the nation.

UCLA cross country competed at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitation in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday, with the No. 20 UCLA men’s unit placing fifth overall out of 33 teams with 219 points in the 8-kilometer. The men finished ahead of nine higher-ranking teams. The UCLA women placed 33rd among 36 teams in the 6K race.

Redshirt senior Colin Burke – who has raced the 8K Thomas Zimmer Championship Course four years in a row – said the atmosphere at the starting line seemed daunting, but the Bruins’ results were vindicating.

“It’s a little intimidating at first,” Burke said. “I think we believe that we’re better than our (No. 20 national) place ranking, so it was nice to prove that on a national stage. … It was reassuring to what we’re doing.”

UCLA avenged its defeat to No. 7 Oregon at the Bill Dellinger Invitational on Sept. 28 and also defeated top-15 teams No. 8 Portland, No. 11 Purdue and No. 15 Indiana in the men’s 8K.

Burke placed second for UCLA and 18th overall with a time of 23 minutes, 57.2 seconds, improving 12 spots on last season’s performance in Wisconsin. Ahead of Burke was redshirt senior Robert Brandt who placed sixth overall.

The rest of the Bruins’ spread – senior Garrett Reynolds, redshirt junior Chris Morzenti and redshirt senior George Gleason – ended at 24th, 74th and 97th place, respectively.

“We’ve just got to work on keeping our spread down to a minimum,” Burke said. “(Then) hopefully (we will) work on getting our five and six guys up with our four guys and our four guys up with our three guys.”

On the women’s side, junior Christina Rice – who led the women’s team with a 48th-place overall finish – said she opened the 6K race at a fast pace to take advantage of the wind, trailing the leaders by roughly two seconds through the first 2,000 meters. Rice said the fast start left her tired later in the race.

“I went out hard and definitely paid for it a little later in the race,” Rice said. “I’m still trying to find that balance of going out too hard to be in a spot to be competitive and going out so I can still close pretty well.”

The remaining five Bruin women all finished within 16 seconds of one another. Rice said moving the tight group up will pay dividends in lowering UCLA’s score.

Freshman Emma Tavella was the second-place runner for the Bruins with a time of 21:49.

Assistant coach Devin Elizondo said from the warmups to the finish line, the Bruins need to find a way to incorporate the newly added runners into their system.

“The lineup hasn’t really changed in three years and now we’ve infused some new blood,” Elizondo said. “I think they are working to find their identity. I’m always going to bet on their spirit, their energy and their character. … Bruins – it’s what we do.”

With the regular season now over, Elizondo said UCLA will enter into the championship phase of training with the Pac-12 championships taking place Nov. 1 in Monmouth, Oregon.

 

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Vinny Lavalsiti | Alumnus
Lavalsiti joined the Bruin as a junior transfer in 2018 and contributed until he graduated in 2020. He spent time on the softball, women's basketball, cross country and track & field beats.
Lavalsiti joined the Bruin as a junior transfer in 2018 and contributed until he graduated in 2020. He spent time on the softball, women's basketball, cross country and track & field beats.
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