Cross Country Tackles Tough Field

SEATTLE – The UCLA cross country team opened up the meat of their schedule against a talented field Friday afternoon at the Washington Invitational held at the Jefferson Park Golf Course.

The 11^th ranked UCLA men’s team placed fourth overall with 117 points as No. 5 Oregon won the meet with 52 points. The women finished 10^th overall.

The men were led by All-American Lane Werley, as the redshirt senior placed third overall with a time of 23:21.80, just six seconds off the leader.

Sergey Sushchikh was 11^th with a time of 23:31.90. Junior Austin O’Neil was 31^st with a time of
23:53.30 and was followed by sophomore Myles Smith (38^th, 23:59.10) and junior Jonah Diaz (40^th, 24:00.40). The UCLA top seven was rounded out by seniors Sean Davis (45^th, 24:05.30) and Nick Hartle (55^th, 24:12.60).

Max Davis (66^th, 24:29.90), Richard Ho (67^th, 24:30.90) and Jackson Marshall (68^th, 24:31.30) came in a tight pack for the Bruins. Nolan Dickson (85^th, 24:58.20) and Daniel De La Torre (100^th, 25:31.60) closed out the competition for UCLA.

In the women’s race, freshman Julia Rizk was the top finisher for the Bruins, placing 35^th with a time of 20:37.90. Redshirt freshman Emily Scharmann finished in 60^th with a time of 21:15.60 and sophomore Roni Yamane closely followed in 63^rd at 21:15.60.

Redshirt freshman Sabrina Seay was 75^th in a time of 21:43.40 and sophomore Jessica Cushing-Murray followed in 78^th at 21:44.60. Junior Aliya Shirif (82^nd, 21:45.30) and senior Kelly Brooks (90^th, 22:07.50) rounded out the UCLA top seven.

Also competing for the Bruins were Taylor Taite (91^st, 22:09.60), Ashlee Powers (95^th, 22:15.50), Emily Fieberling (97^th, 22:22.30) and Valerie Morrison (100^th, 22:25.80).

UCLA will return to the trail and head to the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational on Friday, Oct. 16. The meet will be run on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisc.