Last Saturday’s impressive showing by the UCSD cross country team at the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational in Falcon Heights, Minn. is a telltale sign that the Tritons are beginning to reaffirm themselves as one of the premier squads in the nation under longtime head coach Ted Van Arsdale.
“We are very happy with the progress that the team has made this year,” assistant coach Nate Garcia said. “We have a younger team than last year, but both teams have really shown a good amount of maturity and are developing a great team character.”
The UCSD women’s team, coming off of its best season ever in Division II with a California Collegiate Athletic Association championship and a seventh-place finish at the NCAA cross country championships, recently graduated three of its top seven runners, including former All-American team captain Mimi Hodgins. Doubts soon arose over whether a younger team could match last year’s success.
Likewise, the men’s team began this season with its own uncertainties looming, after failing to qualify for the NCAA championships for the second consecutive year, and ending the 2005 season with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA West Regional. The men’s and women’s teams put some of those doubts to rest in Falcon Heights when they raced all of their top runners for the first time this season.
The fifth-ranked women’s team performed particularly well at the high-powered Roy Griak race, finishing fourth out of 29 teams in the 5k course at Les Bolstad, a golf course that was expected to be difficult because of the turns, rolling hills and grass.
“We are looking forward to the rest of this season and it looks to be one of our best seasons yet,” junior team captain Diane Dunn said. “We lost a number of seniors to graduation. However, this year’s team is looking very strong.”
Dunn led the Tritons with her ninth-place finish out of 278 competitors at Roy Griak.
Dunn was the first UCSD runner to finish the race, ahead of junior All-American Emily McGregor, who finished second for UCSD in 26th place, senior Nina Miller in 33rd place and sophomore Ashleigh Montgomery in 45th place.
The men’s team showed a glimpse of its bright future by finishing 13th in a field of 52 teams and 509 runners, with freshman Jesse Morrill leading the team in 48th place and sophomore Jake LeVieux in 50th place. Junior Greg Geldman, senior team captain Daniel Holligan and sophomore Gabe LaMonthe finished the race in 82nd, 126th and 136th place, respectively.
“We lost a few key seniors last year who we will definitely miss this year, but we have some great young guys who are ready to fill those shoes,” Holligan said. “I have high expectations for those guys this year.”
The race was the first time in four years that UCSD traveled to the Roy Griak Invitational, which allowed both teams to face Midwest competitors they do not typically encounter until the National Championships on a course that is similar to the one used for the championships, Garcia said.
The women’s team may be ranked first in the West Regional and favored to repeat as CCAA champions by the Coaches Association, but questions still linger over whether the team can best 11th-ranked league foe Chico State, the current regional champion with a tight grip on the title.
Can the women’s team remain competitive with a small squad of only 15 runners? Can it overcome a lack of experience with only one fifth-year runner? Can the Tritons successfully replace last year’s CCAA runner of the year and three additional top runners? The women’s team members must find answers to these questions if they plan to accomplish something they could not do last season: unseat Chico State in the West Regional at Chico.
But until then, UCSD will look for answers at home as it hosts the Annual Triton Classic (Oct. 7) and the CCAA championship (Oct. 21).
“It is always exciting to run on your home course,” sophomore Catherine Strouse said. “The atmosphere is inspiring with many alumni returning to cheer us on or even compete in the race themselves. Running on a course that you train on is exciting because you know every turn and every hill. It enables you to run the most efficient race by being smart.”
The annual Triton Classic is considered one of the best races on the West Coast, and is expected to draw the top conference opponents this year in preparation for the CCAA championship, giving the program a good indicator of just how good these young Triton squads can be.
“Every year our goal for each season is to do things better than we did the year prior and that goes for both athletes and the coaching staff,” Garcia said. “We feel that if we are diligent in putting forth the maximum effort, the results will come. Last season we had good success and we hope we improve upon that this season.”
