Rise and shine, Bruins – and don’t press snooze.

UCLA cross country’s journey to the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Missouri, was highlighted by early mornings thanks to the two-hour time change. On Friday, despite the time adjustment, the team placed 18th overall, led by redshirt sophomore Audrey Allen’s 62nd-place finish with her 21:15.0 in the women’s 6k race. Graduate student Jack Rosencrans led the men individually with a 24:35.0 clip to place 95th in the men’s 8k race.

The starting guns were shot at 8 a.m. CT, which meant a 5 a.m. wake-up time for UCLA. In the face of what felt like 3 a.m. for the West Coast Bruins, Rosencrans said the team’s members adjusted their sleep schedules to go to bed and wake up earlier.

While the time difference could have brought them down, the Bruins viewed it as an opportunity to be one step ahead of the game.

“Now that we are in the Big Ten, conference (championships) is going to be in the Midwest as well, so this is definitely good training for that,” Allen said.

During the competition, Allen made her return to cross country after a three-year absence. Allen, who is academically a senior, has been swarmed with injuries since coming to UCLA in 2021. Despite also being a member of the track and field team, she has only run in nine total races as a Bruin – four of them being cross country races from her freshman year.

Though her finish led the team, Allen said her concern was never to beat her teammates.

“I had six or seven stress fractures, … and five of them were within the same calendar year,” Allen said. “I was super happy just to be out there. I smiled as much as I could during the race, even though it’s hard.”

Juniors Kaho Cichon and Annika Salz, freshman Ella McGillis and senior Carly Corsinita also reached a top-200 finish, placing 106th, 119th, 151st and 187th, respectively.

On the men’s side, Rosencrans made a return of his own. The Long Island, New York, local made his debut as a Division I athlete after spending four years with Pomona-Pitzer’s Division III program. Despite making his debut in UCLA’s blue and gold, he bested all five Bruins in the race to secure the Bruins’ sole top-100 finish.

While the men could have contested for a team score, sophomore Aaron Cantu withdrew from the race after the first 2,000 meters due to illness. This left the Bruins with a four-man team – one short of the required five to contest for a team placement.

“We’ve got a bit of sickness and injury floating about,” said assistant coach Andrew Ferris. “That certainly hurt us pretty bad tonight, but for those that did finish, there are a lot of positives.”

With the conclusion of this race, the Bruins are now officially halfway through the regular season. But UCLA’s top players have yet to make an appearance with just one more race until the team’s debut at the Big Ten championships.

Senior Mia Kane and graduate student Michael Mireles – two members of the Big Ten Cross Country Preseason Player Watch List – were once again absent from the race today.

“Because they raced fairly late into the season last year, they took a little while to get going with their summer training,” Ferris said. “They are just a little behind where they needed to be for the beginning of the season and just making sure they’ve got the training in their legs to be where they need to be for Big Tens and regionals.”

UCLA now heads into a two-week competition hiatus before heading to the Bill Dellinger Invite in Eugene, Oregon, on Oct. 11.