Off The Beaten Path

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Get a behind-the-scenes look at Bruin cross country

After a hiatus for Off the Beaten Path, the blog of UCLA cross country returns as assistant coach Forest Braden gives an update on the women's team and how their season has gone thus far.

Hello Bruin fanatics!

This week on Off the Beaten Path, I will take a closer look into the Women's Cross Country program and recap how the season has gone for us thus far.

This is an exciting team to be a part of! Coach Gray and I are proud of the way the team has come together and continues to work as a unit. The team dynamic is very positive and the athletes are willing to work hard and sacrifice the life of the average student to get the most out of their athletic and academic abilities. We have a young team with only one senior, Taryn Pastoor, leaving us after this year.

The team has been led by redshirt juniors Katja Goldring and Sarah Toberty. Goldring is a Los Angeles native who has been an integral part of the program for 3+years. Toberty is entering her first year as a Bruin, coming to us from Orange Coast Community College, where she excelled in distance events from 1500 to 10,000 meters. The addition of Sarah to the squad has provided an infusion of leadership and experience to a young team.

The improvement of several of the runners from last year's team has been instrumental in the success of the women's squad so far this season. Kelsey Smith, Rachel Butler, Meghan Marvin and Caitlin Schmitt have proven themselves invaluable to the team from the start and continue to improve as the season progresses.

The freshmen athletes are again a big part of this program's future and present, with three freshmen athletes currently in our top seven. Annie Mooney, Bronte Golick and Hannah Valenzuela have all had their ups and downs this season, but have persevered through the rough patches in workouts and races to consistently be top performers on the team.

Other athletes looking to solidify their spot on the PAC 12 squad are veterans from last season, Melissa Skiba, Amber Murakami and Paisley Pettway. Another surprise this season and an athlete to keep your eye on for the years to come is Kristina Rivera who has stepped her game up big time over the off season and has worked incredibly hard in order to be in a position to help the team. Look for her to vie for a spot on the PAC-12 team as well.

Keys for the team's success the rest of the season:

  • Goldring and Toberty have led the team so far this season and have been working great together in practices. They need to continue to step up their game on race day and work together during races.

  • Skiba, Murakami and Pettway were big time performers on the team last year, and could be a dangerous trio and a shot in the arm for our squad at PAC-12s.

  • The inexperience of the sophomore class has been evident early on but continues to improve. As the season progresses, redshirt freshmen Kelsey Smith and Meghan Marvin will only get better, as will true sophomores Rachel Butler and Caitlin Schmitt.

  • The dark horse to look out for is Danielle Low, a top junior college transfer. She is as tough as anyone and has been flying under the radar so far this fall but could be a huge performer towards the end of the season.

  • The talented freshmen. These young ladies do not quite know how good they are, when they realize this...WATCH OUT!!!

  • Overall the team needs more big time race experience. The Stanford Invite and the Notre Dame Invite were great opportunities to get in big time races and feel the pain again of collegiate racing. These race situations are going to help us finish the season strong at the PAC-12 and NCAA West Regional Championships.

    We will be competing next weekend at the Bronco Invite at Santa Clara and at the Wisconsin Adidas Invite in Madison, WI.

    See you on the trails...and...
    GO BRUINS!!!!!

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    Cross Country