Moran, UC Irvine Turn Focus to Cross-Country Regional

Where the UC Irvine women’s cross-country team has come from and where it is headed can be seen through the eyes of sophomore Kerri Moran.

She broke her hip in a mountain biking accident last January and could not walk without pain for three months. Still, she began running on the beach three weeks after the accident.

“People thought I was crazy,” Moran said. “They told me I would mess up my hip, but I was listening to my body and it was telling me to run.”

Moran is neither Irvine’s best runner nor its worst. But she will play a key role for the Anteaters at the NCAA West Regional at Blue Lake Regional Park in Troutdale, Ore., on Saturday.

The top two teams automatically qualify for the NCAA championships Nov. 22 in Bloomington, Ind., but there are also 13 at-large berths.

Irvine is ranked seventh in the West Region.

“There are schools [ranked] in front of us and we have to beat some of them,” Irvine junior Kareen Nilsson said. “If we do that, we upset the natural order. Then the people who make the decision will realize we’re here.”

The Anteaters have already convinced Big West teams by winning the conference title on Oct. 30.

Moran, a sophomore, was the Anteaters’ fifth runner and finished 37th, helping Irvine edge Idaho by four points. The top five runners’ finishes count in a team’s score.

“I really got aggressive this year and trained hard,” Moran said. “I was mad because I missed my track season last spring because of the broken hip. I came out and really surprised myself.

“I’m overwhelmed. My dad keeps telling me, ‘You did it, you made it.’ [Coach] Vince [O’Boyle] showed a lot of confidence in me. I was the 18th runner my freshman year and I was sick of being last all the time. I had to put in the work.”

There is some work still to be done.

Irvine last qualified for the NCAA championships in 1990, when the Anteaters finished fourth. Getting there again won’t be easy.

“Realistically, we have to finish in the top five [at the West Regional],” O’Boyle said. “[The NCAA] expanded the field this year and the West has always been well-represented.”

Irvine comes into the race on the heels of its best performance in the conference meet. Freshman Courtney Baird finished second, senior Jamie Blair third and Nilsson seventh to give the Anteaters their first conference title since 1994.

A similar performance will be necessary this weekend.

“You look at the schools behind us and we’ve beaten all of them,” Nilsson said. “We have to beat those ahead of us. It’s a mental thing at this point. We have to be ready to run.”

Baird, Nilsson and Blair will again play a large role.

Baird continued her strong first season in the conference meet, finishing in 18 minutes 6 seconds, her best time this season.

Nilsson, who had a time of 18:29, has been the team’s most consistent runner.

Blair may be the key. She has run her best in big meets, and a strong kick gave her the third-place finish in the conference meet.

“I’ve always been that way in every part of my life,” said Blair, who had a time of 18:14 in the conference meet. “I guess I need that extra push.”

That is something she and the Anteaters will receive on Saturday. The meet includes Stanford and Arizona, two of the nation’s top teams. Irvine has lost to both this season.

The four top individual finishers from teams that do not advance to the NCAAs will also qualify for the championships.

“It was just an honor to run in the conference meet,” said Moran, who had a time of 19:30. “Now conference is over and, pow, we’re in the regionals. It’s pretty exciting.”