Stanford Invitational Saturday September 30, 2006 Late afternoon, partly cloudy, mid 60s, no wind On Saturday the Chico State Wildcat cross country squads took another important step towards the championship season and enjoyed solid results, while competing in the Stanford Invitational. Running a flat layout on Tiger Woods’ former stomping grounds (the Stanford Golf Course) the Wildcats mixed it up again with some tough Division I opponents and came away with some great results. Leading the way once again was Scott Bauhs who beat numerous Division I All Americans while placing second overall in the men’s 8k invitational field. Bauhs’ performance propelled the ‘Cats to a third place finish behind host Stanford, and UC Santa Barbara. Mary Torres once again led the women’s squad finishing 22nd overall helping the women to a seventh place finish among the 17 team field. We’ll start with the men’s 8k race, where the ‘Cats would send nearly 20 uniformed athletes to the line, along with 4 red shirts. Men’s Invitational 8k: Two Hundred and Twenty Two men toed the line in the men’s 8k invitational representing nearly 30 teams, most of which were Division I school. Stanford, a team that went into the weekend ranked fourth in the nation for division 1 would again be favored to repeat as team champions. The Stanford men’s team boasts 6 men who have run under the 29 minute mark for the 10k distance, and numerous others with sparkling marks at other distances. Depth of talent is not a problem for the Cardinal. UC Santa Barbara, and CAL stood as other threats to the Wildcats, who wished to place as close to the top as possible. CAL Berkeley has no less than four Foot Locker finalists on their roster, two of which placed among the top 3 at the HS national championship event. This field was definitely solid at the top. The early pace was quick but not too fast as the top Stanford runners appeared to try to control the pace from the front, towing a group of 30+ runners through the mile. Tucked in nicely through the opening kilometers were Charlie Serrano and Scott Bauhs. By 3 kilometers Bauhs appeared somewhat antsy as none of the Cardinal runners seemed to want to really press the pace (at least not at Bauhs’ current standards) Testing the waters the Junior from Chico ventured forward, quickening the tempo and breaking up what was once a tight pack. By mid-race only two appeared game to cover Bauhs’ move, Nef Araia and Jeremy Johnson (New Mexico). Araia a 28:27 10k runner from the track and several time All American, looked smooth as he matched strides with Bauhs. A few meters back teammate Charlie Serrano was looking well, running with several of Stanford’s top runners and a few others who had fallen from the leading trio ahead. Having started a bit more conservatively Kyle Ivie and Antonio Miramontes started making up ground on the groups ahead. Miramontes would pass nearly 40 runners from 3k to 6k, but his overzealous approach to these middle kilo’s caused him to give back 7-10 places over the final mile. Beau Bettinger ran among the top 30 for most of the race before giving up a few of these spots also over the final kilometers. The race for the individual crown turned into what appeared to be a dual between Bauhs and Araia, before the Stanford Junior separated with just under a mile and a half remaining. With 1k to the finish Bauhs ran off the shoulder of Johnson in third place and a bit more than 10 seconds behind the leader. Thankfully Bauhs found another gear and during the final ½ mile, took back 5-6 seconds from Araia. Nef, who wasn’t about to lose his home race in front of the Cardinal faithful found another gear to insure the victory. Bauhs hit the finish 5 seconds off the win and 4 ahead of Johnson. Serrano who’d worked hard in an attempt for a top 5 finish lost a few spots in the final meters, but hung on nicely for a 12th place finish. Running his best XC race to date, Kyle Ivie kicked down 28:58 10k performer Bret Gotcher of Stanford in the final meters to finish among the top 20 overall. Miramontes held on tight and would finish 25th overall while Beau Bettinger ended the ‘Cats scoring with his 35th place effort. Rory Kuykendall and Tim Tollefson had another solid outing finishing at 25:02, 25:04. Today’s breakthrough performances for the developing runners outside of the top 7 came in the form of Eddie Serna’s 25:17 run and true frosh Manny Mejia’s 25:31 finish. Both finished inside the top third of this strong field. Women’s 6k Invitational: With the defending NCAA Division I champion Stanford squad among the entrants the pace at the front would surely be quick. This was indeed the case as Ariana Lambie a former sub 4:40 HS miler towed a pack of 20 women through the mile in a blistering 5:20. Tucked into this pack was Sarah Montez and Mary Torres of Chico. The two had gone out much too slow in the Sundodger race, so today they would try their hand at getting out hard and holding on. This would indeed be the case as the pace up front didn’t really settle much. Montez and Torres slowly peeled from the pack along with others who were a bit too “frisky” in the early kilometers. Running from behind as she enjoys doing, Lindsay Nelson spotted the leaders 30 seconds in the first mile alone. Thankfully she came to life at mid race and rallied well to pass a good number of those ahead of her. Making nice progress since returning from injury Julie Shaw moved her way back into the Wildcats scoring group this week. Shaw a true sophomore who earned All Region honors for the ‘Cats last Fall, is a welcomed addition to the scoring five. Shaw ran a very steady race, passing a good number of runners before hitting the finish at 54th overall. Running as the #5 for the Chico ladies again this week was Aisha Kamala. Aisha dipped under 23 minutes for the second time this season. Up front Stanford dominated in a big way, putting their top six across the line among the top 10 overall. Mary Torres would hold on well after the fast early start garnering a 21st place finish. Sarah would finish just twenty second and 6 places behind. Megan Williams enjoyed her best outing of the year notching a 78th place finish and a seasonal best 23:19 time. Dinora Moran who was a part of the 1-4 scoring effort earlier in the month at the Chico Invit struggled today, and will take some time off, in hopes of allowing her body to re-group for the stretch run. Women’s Open 5k: Junior Kellie Stephens enjoyed her best outing of the season while touring the HS 5k layout in the open race. Employing a nice come-from-behind tactic Stephens looked very strong down the final stretch after having passed nearly 25 runners in the final two miles. Lindsey Brown raced for the first time this season after having dealt with a bout of Mono for over a month. Brown is bouncing back nicely and enjoyed a solid 19:44 mark. Colleen Joyce a red shirting frosh from El Toro HS also ran an impressive time (19:52) while just missing a top-10 finish. Teammate and fellow red shirt Alyssa Craft also dipped under the 20 minute mark with her 13th place effort. Audrey Allas, Jamie Humphreys, Erica Thomas, and Ondi Foster also looked strong for the ‘Cats in this open event. Coach Gary Towne