Torrence, Coe Lead Men’s Squad to Surprise Third-Place Finish While Women Struggle at Pre-NCAA Meet

The Beatles once sang, “I get by with a little help from my friends.”

Saturday morning at the Pre-NCAA meet in Terra Haute, Ind., senior David Torrence and sophomore Michael Coe of the Cal cross country team took the words from that famous song literally.

“David and I worked with each other,” Coe said. “We felt each other out and we separated ourselves from the rest of the pack later on by taking over some guys.”

Torrence added, “Michael helped me regain my focus and my form as we were running. Working as a team really helped us finish strong.”

The pair finished in 16th and 17th place respectively in a field of 261, leading the Bears to an unexpected third-place finish in the blue race, one of two 8K races.

With its third-place finish, the men placed higher than No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 8 Alabama and No. 19 UCLA.

The women did not find similar success, placing 30th in a field of 38 teams in their division, which included No. 1 Stanford.

Rebecca Yau, the perennial pacer for the women, finished in 83rd place in the 259-woman race, first among the Bears.

“We were really able to execute our plan well,” Yau said. “We stuck close together and ran as a pack. That really helped us run our kind of race.”

Throughout the season, the theme for the men has been about respect. They believe that Cal cross country lacks the respect that it deserves.

“We should get more national recognition after this race,” coach Tony Sandoval said. “We may even break the top 10 because of the convincing way we ran out there.”

This confidence, stemming from the Bears’ surprise finish, also pervades among the runners themselves.

“We’ve definitely been on a mission this year to prove we are a powerhouse cross country school,” Coe said. “And this race proves we are.”

One of the biggest factors in Cal’s high finish was runners other than Torrence stepping up and running what Sandoval said were the best races of their lives.

“Michael Coe really stepped up out there, especially after the season he had last year,” Sandoval said. “(Karl) Karlsson ran a solid race and (Chris) Chavez ran one of his best races ever out there.”

Coe, who entered college as one of the most heralded male recruits in program history, experienced a disappointing first season in which he did not live up to his own expectations or the expectations of his teammates.

“Last year was a disaster for me, I struggled the whole year and always fell apart at the end. I could never put a full race together.” Coe said.

However, Coe has more reason to be optimistic about this season after Saturday.

“I always knew I had a race like this in me,” he said. “It’s definitely my breakthrough race and my best race ever here at Cal. I definitely am going to keep it going.”

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