University of Arizona
Pac-12 Championships
UA Men, Women Finish Eighth at Pac-12 XC Championships
10/31/2014 | Cross Country
Oakland, Calif. – The University of Arizona Wildcat men's and women's cross country teams competed at the 2014 Pac-12 Championships on Friday morning in Oakland, Calif. The meet took place at Metropolitan Golf Links and the women's team finished in eighth place overall in the 6K race while the men's team finished in eighth place as well in the 8K.
“Some people ran great and then some people didn't do well,” head coach James Li said. “We really don't see the team improving when that happens. I'm glad that some of the kids did really well but it's a disappointing Pac-12 finish. We thought we could be better and beat some of those teams. We are just running out of time this year in trying to put everything together.”
Senior Kristina Aubert was the top finisher for the women's team, taking 32nd place with a time of 21:06. Junior Molly Callahan finished in 34th place with a time of 21:09. Senior Amanda Russell's time of 21:17 was good for 39th place. Senior Clea Formaz finished in 50th place, running the 6K in 21:26. Senior Hanna Peterson was the fifth and final scorer for the Wildcats, finishing with a time of 21:35 and taking 59th place. Senior Kate Penney (75th; 21:48), freshman Claire Green (81st; 21:57), senior Stephanie Bulder (94th; 22:30) and freshman Kayla Ferron (96th; 22:34) also ran for the Wildcats.
The UA women's team tallied 200 points and took eighth place overall. Oregon won with 54 points, Stanford took second with 74 points, Colorado's 82 points were good for third place and Washington had 93 in fourth place. Arizona State finished with 158 points in sixth place, claiming the Territorial Cup point for women's cross country.
Senior Sam Macaluso was the top finisher in the 8K for the Wildcats, taking 29th place overall with a time of 24:23. Sophomore Collins Kibet took 30th place with a time of 24:26. Senior Kenji Bierig's time of 24:44 was good for 41st place. Freshman Bailey Roth had a time of 24:58 in 50th place and sophomore Matthew Beer's time of 25:56 was good for 71st place. UA also ran senior Jonas Legernes (73rd; 26:08), freshman Patrick Leary (75th; 26:39) and sophomore Jeff Gautreau (78th; 27:06).
Arizona's men's team finished in eighth place with a tally of 206 points. Colorado won their fourth-straight conference Championship, tallying 30 points. Oregon finished in second with 57 points, Stanford had 60 points in third place, and Washington finished with 87 points in fourth place. Arizona State had 182 points in sixth place, claiming the Territorial Cup point for men's cross country.
“I think Sam Macaluso did really well,” Li said. “Kristina was probably a little bet less than what she has been doing but she's sort of hit a rough patch right now. The last couple of races haven't been great for her. Sam did well and our top four guys did okay, nothing too spectacular. If that fifth guy could come a bit closer we would be in good shape but we were just way too far. I think today people like Amanda Russell and Molly Callahan really did well and had a good race but overall we weren't good enough.”
A delayed airing of the women's race debuts Monday, Nov. 3 on Pac-12 Networks and Pac-12 Now at 6 p.m. MST, followed by the men's race at 6:30 MST.
