“I can’t believe this.”

Redshirt senior Kent Morikawa looked out toward the Intramural Field from the sidelines, his immobile right ankle wrapped in layers of tape, the rest of his teammates moving purposefully around the field at a 4:45 mile clip.

Morikawa stole glances back to his side, almost trying to desperately shake the truth away as if it was a mirage. It was a mild sprain that came while running down Wilshire Boulevard the day before, a piece of sidewalk jutting out that caused him to lose his footing.

But reason and the truth were sometimes two separate things, and as Morikawa watched his teammates practice, he processed scenario after scenario, blaming street maintenance, blaming distractions, blaming himself, until he came to one conclusion:

“I need to be out there right now.”

Two days may be nothing, but for Morikawa, two days meant lost time – time that could have been spent on conditioning, improving his mileage, becoming stronger to help push the men’s cross country team higher up the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s top 25 rankings.

“Those guys out there,” Morikawa said, watching junior Alec Govi and redshirt sophomore Brett Walters prepare to run their fourth mile. “They feel awesome right now. I guarantee it.”

“I want to be a part of it.”

To hear Morikawa talk about cross country is to hear someone completely dedicated and invested.

But he’s not the only one.

A noticeable change has emerged throughout both the men’s and women’s cross country teams, a reaffirmation for a love of a sport that’s been a part of their lives for so long.

Despite increased competition over the course of the season, along with a number of freshmen runners being asked to contribute while gaining the experience of big meets, many of these runners have accepted the challenge to keep pushing and fighting forward.

None of this has been more apparent than with sophomore Dustin Fay.

“I was tired of being just decent,” Fay said.

Coming off a freshman season spent adjusting to collegiate running, Fay entered the offseason intent on improving.

“I took my time off from everything else and just focused on running,” Fay said.

“Running became my escape, to get away from the world. I couldn’t ask for more, to visualize and see the improvement.”

Those offseason visions have translated into success.

After top finishes at the Nevada Chase Race and Aztec Invitational at the beginning of the season, Fay led the men’s squad to a second-place finish at the Stanford Invitational.

This performance was followed by another impressive showing less than a week later when the Bruins entered South Bend, Ind., and came away with a sixth-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational, which featured eight top 25 teams.

The previously unranked men’s cross country team jumped to No. 22 in the country.

“We’re running smart,” coach Forest Braden said. “By building this confidence, we’ll be able to finish strong.”

Lucky Greens

The cross country teams have been sporting green cleats – so vibrant they’re almost neon green – for their races, which has been greeted with mixed results.

“Everyone is like, ‘Oh man, our shoes are green,’” Fay said. “But no one is looking at our shoes. The only thing that matters is making sure other runners can only see our backs and our butts.”

Out for the year

Last year’s freshman standout Sierra Vega continues to nurse stress fractures in her femurs. She has yet to compete in a meet and will be out for the rest of the season.

“We’re gaining experience, and so when I get back, I know we can be that much stronger,” said Vega.

Shuffling at the top

With the absence of Vega and the emergence of a strong freshmen recruiting class, coach Braden has needed to make changes to the women’s cross country starting line-up to see how runners react in different situations.

“Our top seven (runners) is completely different from last year,” Braden said. “Some of them might not have expected to be in the top seven right off the bat. Now they’re coming from a different level of running. A lot of them just came from high school or community college, and now it’s a new game. It’s gut-check time for them.”

The emerging seven include redshirt junior Katja Goldring, junior transfer Sarah Toberty, sophomore Caitlin Schmitt, redshirt freshman Kelsey Smith, and freshmen Bronte Golick, Annie Mooney and Hannah Valenzuela.