The starting guns marked the beginning of the races. The finish lines revealed just how far the Bruins had come.
Against a field of Big Ten competitors, UCLA cross country put its season-long preparation to the test at the conference championships, where every second and every stride carried postseason implications.
UCLA cross country took on the Big Ten Championships on Oct. 30 at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Verona, Wisconsin. The women’s squad raced to a historic eighth-place finish, while the men’s team secured 10th place.
“For us as a team, keeping it simple, just trying to be better than what we were last year,” said assistant coach Andrew Ferris. “We certainly view ourselves as being more competitive within the conference this year compared to previous years. It may sound a little cheesy, but we’re just trying to compete and get a little better.”
The eighth-place finish marked the Bruin women’s best result since joining the Big Ten in 2024. After finishing 12th in each of their first two conference championship appearances, the Bruins climbed four spots in the standings with 232 points. The result also marked the women’s highest conference finish since placing seventh at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships.
Sophomore Evie Marheineke led the charge for the blue and gold, finishing 29th overall in the women’s 6-kilometer race with a time of 20:33.7. Marheineke, who also paced the women’s group at the Nuttycombe Invitational earlier this season, finished more than eight seconds ahead of the Bruins’ next runner.
Junior Olivia Foody followed in 38th place with a time of 20:42.2, improving her finish by 12 positions and shaving more than 22 seconds off her performance at last year’s conference championships.
Sophomore Annie Ivarsson (20:54.7), senior Ailish Hawkins (20:55.9) and freshman Gretchen Yakaitis (20:59.2) rounded out UCLA’s top five women’s finishers, placing 53rd, 54th and 58th, respectively. All five Bruins crossed the finish line in under 21 minutes.
On the men’s side, UCLA secured its second consecutive top-10 conference finish, placing 10th among 15 competing programs with 298 points. The result comes one year after the Bruins finished ninth at the 2025 Big Ten Championships, when they accumulated 217 points.
“Even just in a year, I think our entire team has stepped up in experience and age. A lot of guys are more seasoned with racing against some of the top guys in the entire country,” said junior Jack Falkowski. “I think we definitely have more of a professional attitude. We know how to run cross country, and we know how to be a real contender for making the national meet.”
Falkowski finished 51st overall in the men’s 8-kilometer race with a time of 24:06.3. Fifth-year Henry Coughlan led the Bruin men with a 41st-place finish in 23:59.4, improving his time by more than 40 seconds from last year’s conference championships – when he placed 66th. Both runners recorded career-best Big Ten championship placements.
Junior Andreas Dybdahl (24:35.2) and freshman Drake Hoferer (24:41.8) joined the Bruins’ scoring contingent, placing 77th and 83rd, respectively. The five men’s runners combined for a team time of 2:01:44 and barely edged Indiana for a top-10 finish, garnering 298 points to the Hoosiers’ 302.
“That race in particular was probably one of the deepest and fastest races in NCAA history, other than maybe a Nationals meet,” said Falkowski. “I think we came in a little unknowing of how our team would perform or how good our actual team was, and I think we came out with some pretty high hopes.”
Oregon swept the conference championships, claiming both the men’s and women’s team titles. The Ducks dominated the men’s competition with 23 points, finishing 39 points ahead of second-place Wisconsin. On the women’s side, Oregon tallied 35 points, comfortably ahead of Northwestern’s 90 and Penn State’s 92.
With the Big Ten Championships behind them, the Bruins will shift their focus to the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 13 in Sacramento. UCLA will look to build on its conference performances as both squads compete for an opportunity to advance to the NCAA Championship.
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