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The UCLA women’s cross country team’s greatest asset, its balance, was on full display on Saturday. But that didn’t translate into an impressive finish for the Bruins at the Pac-10 Championships. Despite having six runners, all of whom placed in the top 30, finish within 25 seconds of each other, it simply wasn’t enough to catapult No. 26 UCLA to the top of the final standings. Instead, the Bruins finished in a disappointing fourth place, well behind Pac-10 champion Stanford, the top-ranked team in the country. UCLA came close to finishing in the top 3, but fell just two points short of running past Washington. “That’s such a narrow margin, it can’t be calculated on the course,” coach Eric Peterson said. The Bruins were once again led by sophomore Alison Costello, who finished the 6000-meter course in 15th place with a time of 21:30. “I’m feeling a little more comfortable every race,” said Costello. “I’m just trying to pick off every jersey in front of me.” However, Costello, who has established herself as the leader on the team, still feels that the team is in need of a strong front-runner, something which the Bruins had last year in Valerie Flores. On Saturday, Costello was followed closely by junior Jenna Timinsky (21st, 21:44), freshmen Monkia Rothenburger (22nd, 21:49) and Olga Aulet-Leon (23rd, 21:50), and sophomore Ashley Caldwell (25th, 21:54). Up next for the Bruins is the NCAA West Region Championships on Nov. 13 where the team will look to qualify for the NCAA Championship meet on Nov. 22. “We absolutely need to beat Washington and UC Santa Barbara,” Peterson said. “That’s what our focus will be in the next two weeks.” Costello believes that the team is very capable of making the NCAA meet once again, but admits that it will be tough. “We have a big task ahead of us,” said Costello. “We all have to have a big race. We just have to run for our lives.”

MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY: Senior Jon Rankin continued his stellar season at the Pac-10 Championships. Rankin placed fifth in the 8000-meter race with a time of 24:31, earning All-Pac-10 first-team honors. “I’m very excited and pleased with the way I finished,” said Rankin. “I think this is the highest individual placing we’ve had in quite a while, so in that respect I am very pleased.” Overall, UCLA finished fifth, narrowly losing to Washington by two points and No. 28 Oregon by 13 points. Second-ranked Stanford won the 8000m race, completing a sweep of both the men’s and women’s titles for the fifth year in a row. Despite the fifth-place finish, Peterson was in high spirits, noting that this is his team’s best performance of the year. “This team is headed in the right direction,” said Peterson. “This is the best we’ve finished in my tenure. The last couple of years we’ve come in seventh or eighth. ... The team is really upbeat, optimistic and enthusiastic.” Even with the improvement the Bruins have made, Peterson still knows that his team will need a strong fifth runner in order to earn a spot at the NCAA Championships. “What we didn’t have today was a strong effort from a fifth guy,” said Peterson. “We’ve got very fine athletes in that position. ... We have two weeks to sort that issue out. I suspect that we will.” Although the team has been lacking that consistent fifth finisher, Rankin has been nothing less than spectacular as the squad’s top runner, earning praise from his coach as one of the country’s top distance runners. “I’m thrilled for Jon,” said Peterson. “This really does validate my suspicion that Jon is running at an All-American level.” Rankin is the highest placing Bruin runner at the Pac-10 meet since UCLA great Meb Keflezighi came in second in 1997 on his way to winning the NCAA individual title.