Cross country season's end disappointing, coach says

"Overall we had a very strong and very satisfying season," head coach Dave Murray said. "It was just a good, solid year with a somewhat disappointing end."

The finale of the season saw the women's team run to a mediocre 11th place finish while the men placed a disappointing 16th. Earlier in the season both teams ran impressively - the men's team won their first three tournaments, and the women showed improvement with every race and fared well in the championship season, winning the NCAA West Regional over then No. 1 Stanford.

"Winning the region was the highlight for the women and we won the Irvine Invitational, the Aztec Invitational and the Mountain West Classic on the men's side," Murray said.

Outstanding individual performances were turned in by seniors Amy Skieresz and Abdi Abdirahman.

Abdirahman raced to first place finishes at the Irvine Invitational, Aztec Invitational, the Pacific 10 Conference Championships and the Regional, and he came in second at the NCAA Championships.

Skieresz's only loss all year was a second place finish at the NCAA Championships, meaning she had only an unprecedented three losses in her entire collegiate career. Her finish at the NCAA Championships came under the stress of a tumor in her upper right thigh detected a little over a week before the race.

"Amy and Abdi were the number one highlights for the season," Murray said. "Amy especially is an unbelievable athlete. There was no way she was going to finish her collegiate career on sidelines."

For the women's squad, freshmen Tara Chaplin showed remarkable poise and promise during the season.

"I hope I can improve by next year," Chaplin said. "It will help me a lot from the experience I've gained winning at the collegiate level."

Commenting on next year's squad, Murray remarked that although the team will lose key runners, he expects the team will remain strong next season.

"Out of the runners that competed this year we really only loose Abdi on the men's side and Amy and Brooke on the women's side," Murray said. "We also redshirted some really good runners this year that will race next year."

Junior Kristen Parrish overcame past injury to emerge as a solid No. 3 runner for the Wildcats and senior Brooke Murphy ended her season with what Murray called, "the best race she has ever run," at the NCAA Championships. Rounding out the women's team and performing especially well in the Pac-10 meet where junior Claire Becker and freshman Jennifer Burris.

"I think Tara showed early in the year what she was capable of doing," Murray said. "Tara and Kristen will be our leaders for next year on the women's side."

The men's team suffered a loss early in the season when senior and team captain Jeff McLarty sustained an ankle injury two meets into the season. Underclassmen David Lopez, Micheil Jones, Jeremy Lyon and Steve Smith stepped up to fill the void left by McLarty, and along with Abdirahman, led the Wildcats to the NCAA Championships. Brent Pederson and Mike Cramer also provided support for the men's squad during the course of the season.