'Not good enough' sums up UA cross country season

Adam F. Jarrold Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior Jeff McLarty agonizes over his 53rd place finish last month at the Far West Regional Cross Country meet at Randolph Golf Course. Neither the men's nor women's team made it to the national finals.

"It was not good enough," freshman David Lopez said of his 24th place finish at the Far Western Regional in Tucson on Nov. 15, his words telling the story of a season that did not go as planned.

In a year filled with promise and dreams of NCAA glory, both the men's and women's teams fell short of qualifying for nationals.

"It was a good season, for the most part," UA head coach Dave Murray said. "But I don't consider a season successful unless we get to NCAA's."

Murray felt that the Wildcats' biggest disadvantage was running in "the toughest district in the country."

Arizona's competition included nationally-ranked powers such as Stanford, Oregon, Washington and Washington State.

The season began with talk of Skieresz winning her second-consecutive NCAA title and the men's team returning from an injury-plagued 1996 season and getting back to nationals.

It was not to be, though. Illnesses and lingering injuries from the summer and previous year hampered those runners whom Murray considered key to the teams' overall performances.

"Both girls just didn't run as well as we'd hoped," Murray said of sophomore Kristen Parrish and freshman Katrin Engelen.

Parrish battled a fluctuating potassium level all year. It caused her to miss one race and slowed her down at a number of others.

Engelen did not adapt well to running in Arizona after transferring from Germany early in the semester.

"Maybe I expected too much from her," Murray said of his hope that Engelen could possibly be the team's No. 3 runner. "I think next year will be a different story, though."

Engelen also struggled to recover from an injury incurred during track season in Germany over the summer.

After coming in 46th at the Far West Regional in Tucson on Nov. 15, Engelen said that she "never felt as tired as I do right now."

Skieresz, the team's top runner, won every race until the NCAA's.

"She ran a good, solid race," Murray said. "The person who beat her (Villanova's Carrie Tollefson) ran the best I've ever seen her."

Skieresz said it was "not the end of the world" to have her 14-race winning streak snapped.

"No one wins all the time," Murray said.

While the team disappointed as a whole, two runners who will not be returning next year had surprisingly solid years.

Senior Virginia Camacho ran what Murray called "her best season, cross country-wise, ever."

Camacho came in 12th at the regional, just missing a trip to nationals with Skieresz.

"We didn't run as well as we could have this year," Camacho said.

Senior Tone Bratteng, expected to be the team's No. 5 runner, wound up being third.

"Tone stepped it up," Murray said.

Bratteng said that it was "kind of sad" that she was running in her last cross country season, but that, as a team, the Wildcats "have nothing to be ashamed of."

Despite the loss of Bratteng and Camacho, the Wildcats will return Skieresz, Parrish, Engelen and freshman Erin Doherty, who Murray felt "came on strong late in the season."

The Wildcats are now focusing on recruiting to fill Camacho and Bratteng's roster spots.

"The big key for us (next year) is who we bring in," Murray said.

For the men's team illness hit hard late in the season, taking out sophomore Micheil Jones, who was running a strong third on the team, and then freshman standout Tom Prindiville.

Senior Margarito Casillas, who will be the lone runner to not return next fall, never really recovered from a series of injuries that caused him to sit out all of last season.

With Casillas struggling, junior transfer Abdi Abdirahman, who came over from Pima Community College, emerged as the team's top runner.

"Abdi obviously had the best year of everyone," Murray said.

Abdirahman came in first at the Wildcats' first two meets of the year and then placed no lower than seventh the rest of the season, including a third place finish at the regional and a seventh place finish at nationals.

Murray was also especially impressed by Lopez after the regional.

"He was one of the top three freshmen out there," Murray said.

Lopez reflected on the year gone by after the regional.

"This year wasn't as bad as last year," he said. "We had a couple guys sick and that hurt us."

Besides Abdirahman, Lopez, Prindiville and Jones, junior Jeff McLarty and sophomore Jeremy Lyon will also return next year.

"Next year we're going to do it," Lopez said. "We're going to nationals, I'm certain of it."