Gauchos Thrive With Late Bloomers

The UC Santa Barbara men’s cross-country team is ranked 13th in the latest NCAA Division I poll heading into the West region championships Saturday at Randolph Golf Course-North in Tucson, but only one of its top seven runners was a standout in high school.

Senior Aaron Sharp, Santa Barbara’s No. 5 runner, was a state Division V cross-country champion at Oxnard Santa Clara High and placed ninth in the 3,200 meters in the 1998 state track championships.

“We’ve got a bunch of guys who were willing to pay their dues [by increasing their mileage],” Coach Pete Dolan said.

Santa Barbara defeated 21st-ranked Utah State for its first Big West Conference title in four years on Oct. 27, but the previously-unranked Gauchos burst onto the national scene two weeks earlier when they finished ahead of several ranked teams in their heat of the NCAA championships preview meet in Greenville, S.C.

Santa Barbara will be seeded third in a West region meet that will include six top-20 teams, but Horton figures the Gauchos can grab one of two automatic qualifying spots for the NCAA championships on Nov. 19 or run well enough to earn an at-large berth.

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UC Santa Barbara won’t be the only cross-country team from Southern California looking for an NCAA championships berth in the West region meet.

The UCLA women, ranked 17th in the nation, will be one of five top 25-ranked teams in the meet. Freshman Alejandra Barrientos and sophomore Lena Nilsson are expected to lead a Bruin team that placed fourth in the Pacific 10 Conference championships on Oct. 27.