Dear Wildcat Harrier Fans, Running on the CCAA championship course from a year ago, two Chico State squads ran to solid 1st and 6th place team finishes while competing against a mix of DI and DII schools. Competing schools were Humboldt State, Freso State, University of San Francisco, SF State, St Marys, CSU Monterey Bay, San Jose St. and Sonoma State. Resting the top 7 men and 6 women this weekend, the ‘Cats would use this smaller invitational event to help the developing athletes earn experience in scoring roles. This turned out to be a success as many solid individual performances were had and both teams scored wins over “A” squads from other schools. Men’s 8k. The men’s B Squad remained unbeaten for the season by scoring a very low 21 points on Saturday. Coming off the Win over ranked Western Washington U, and Alaska Anchorage U, at the Seattle meet several weeks previous, the same group of men toed the line on Saturday in search of another team title. Since we’re allowed to run only 10 men at the CCAA championships, competition for the final spots on the conference team added to the drama within the race. From the gun former CAL runners Giliat Ghebray and Kevin Davis bolted to the lead. Ghebray a 13:50 5k runner, and Davis a sub 9 min steepler with low 14 min 5k credentials sailed off ahead of a large chase pack that included many of the top Wildcat runners. Running with the ‘Cats in this pack were SF State returning All American Josh Babiak, 2005 All State JC XC performer Isaias Escobedo of College of Sequoias, and Humboldt State’s #1 runner Jimmy Elam. At mid race the chase pack was very much in tact with Aaron Torres, Angel Marquez, Michael Wickman, Jordan Page, and Eddie Serna all running as a unit among the top 10-12 overall. Over the final kilometers Serna fell back from the pace, but was replaced in the scoring 5 by a late surging Nick Clinton who was battling through a tough cold and had failed to get out among the leaders. Kicking hard and passing Babiak in the final straight Marquez stopped the clock in 25:38 in 4th overall. Babiak followed just two ticks back, then CAL redshirt and former Piner HS standout Dawit Tesfasilassie. Running by far his best race of the season was Aaron Torres who finished just a few seconds off Tesfasilassie and only a few seconds ahead of Chico’s #3 Michael Wickman. Humboldt’s #1 Jimmy Elam would finish 9th with Chico’s final scorers Jordan Page and Nick Clinton taking the next two places. All toll, Chico’s #8-13 runners had all finished among the top 11 overall in the race giving folks a descent look into the depth of this men’s squad. Adding to this glimpse into the future of the Wildcat program were the fine finishes of red shirting frosh Julio Jimenez, Manny Mejia Jr., and Brendan Scanlon, who all finished among the top 20 overall. Having witnessed another great race by the Chico State developmental group I can honestly say that I do think that the top 2 men’s teams in the West Region are from the CSUC campus. With a solid 1-5 spread of :19 seconds and with each of these guys running as close as they are to top runners like Babiak and Tesfasilassie, there is little doubt that this squad would be nationally ranked among the top 15 if such a thing were allowed. With the majority of these guys being Frosh and Sophs, the future definitely looks bright for the ‘Cats. Women’s 6k: With each frosh on the Wildcat’s roster red-shirting, the Chico women lack the depth of the men’s squad, but that didn’t stop the 6 women entered on Saturday from claiming a 6th place team finish out of the 10 competing teams. Leading the way on Saturday was RS Frosh Allison Ivie who ran side by side with teammate Megan Williams for the initial 2-3k among the top 15 overall. Williams suffered a major mid race setback which left Ivie alone to climb up further in the field. She would do just that, racing into a top 10 spot over the final kilometers. Still developing after a bout with Mono Jr. Lindsey Brown raced hard among the top ¼ of the field. Running close to Brown throughout the race was Kellie Stephens who hammered the middle kilometers. Williams fought hard trying to help the team scoring as did Erica Thomas. Thomas who’d started the year battling for a spot on the Wildcat soccer squad but joining the XC team after being cut, was enjoying her best outing of the season. Also hammering the later kilo’s of the race was Ondi Foster, who toed the line with only 3 workouts behind her (missed a lot of running due to IT band issues). As the leaders approached the finish stretch the familiar stride of Allison Ivie was spotted closing at a good rate. Ivie finished with a solid kick holding off SFSU’s #1 Kristin Gallup. Finishing 28th overall was Lindsey Brown, followed closely by Kellie Stephens (30th). Megan Williams crossed the finish 35th overall with Erica Thomas closing the scoring with a 44th place effort. Ondi Foster recorded a 72nd place finish to cap the Wildcat’s uniform squad. Red shirts who had solid outings… Colleen Joyce a frosh from El Toro HS had another solid outing this week placing 31st overall while running unnatached. Audrey Allas and Jamie Humphreys also enjoyed good days while finishing among the top 50 ovearall.