If the cross country season could have a face, it would be bloodied and bruised, bandaged and beaten, still standing long after its expiration date. The team has been ranked and unranked, seen injuries and sickness, and felt the high of winning and the shadow of defeat.

At the Pac-10 Championships on Saturday, the team faced another obstacle, with the men’s team top runner redshirt junior Dylan Knight out with an illness. Despite Knight’s absence and the Seattle rain, the Bruin men finished fourth overall.

Senior Jacob Matthews was the first Bruin runner to finish, with a time of 23:57.81. Freshman Nohe Lema (23:58.82), Kent Morikawa (24:01.29), Spencer Knight (24:05.12) and Pablo Rosales (24:20.41) rounded out the rest of the scoring five in a performance that coach Forest Braden called “a good step toward where we need to be.” The women’s team finished in sixth place and was led by senior Shannon Murakami, who finished 17th overall. Freshman Sierra Vega (20:37.96), freshman Melissa Skiba (20:55.88), redshirt senior Kelcie Wiemann (21:24.34) and freshman Amber Murakami (21:45.90) made up the rest of the scoring team in which many of the runners set personal records.

“It’s a testament to their work ethic and concentration and focus today that they were able to overcome that and say, ‘OK, I’m getting it done no matter who’s here,’” Braden would later say.

“It was a big confidence booster. We had some second thoughts going into the race without (Knight). But we know now that we can all step up and run better,” Matthews said.

And for the women, if there was ever a question of their toughness, Shannon Murakami proved doubters wrong, crossing the finish line and then falling down in a state of total exhaustion and pain from a lingering Achilles injury. “After I finished, my Achilles was on fire,” Murakami said. “It hurt so bad. I tried to not let it limit what I can do, what our team can do.”

“Everything just came together,” Braden said. “Our freshmen ran fantastic, and Shannon led the way while being hurt. She’s tenacious and never gives up.”

While Stanford swept both races, the Bruins left Seattle with confidence for greater success at regionals.

“We’re finally showing what we’re capable of, a glimpse of something very special,” Braden said.